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L'NUEK    THK    TITLK    "llOVV    TO    INCREASE    YOUK    SALKS' 


CONTENTS 


THE 

Play  the  Ganre  -o. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    SELLING — THE!  LIFEBLOOD    OF   BUSINESS 7 

By  Walter  H.  Cottingham,  Vice-President  and 
General  Manager,  The  Sherwin-Williams 
Company 

II.    THE  ESSENTIALS  OF  SALESMANSHIP   11 

By  J.  W.  Binder,  Sales  Manager,  The  Dicta- 
phone Company  of  America 


PART  II 
HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

Know   How  r 

III.  THE  STEPS  IN  THE  SALE   .-.     17 

By  W.  A.  Waterbury,  Sales  Manager, 
A.  B.  Dick  Company 

IV.  SELLING    A    SPECIALTY    21 

By  J.  W.   Binder,   Sales   Manager,    The   Dicta- 
phone Company   of   America 

V.    SELLING   A   LINE 33 

By  J.  Harry  Selz,  Vice-President,  Selz,  Schwab 
&   Company 

VL    SELLING  TO  THE  USER  43 

By  F.  C.  Gilbert 

PAET  III 
HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

Know  Tour  Ground 
VII.    GETTING   PAST  THE  OUTPOST    51 

VIII.    ANSWERING    OBJECTIONS     60 

By  W.  A.  Waterbnry,  Sales  Manager, 
A.  B.   Dick  Company 

IX.    LANDING   THE   ORDER  .  69 


CONTENTS 

PAET  IV 
HOW    TO   KEEP    CUSTOMEES'   LISTS 

CHAPTER                       Ma1ce  Details  Automatic                         pAGE 
X.     THE  SALESMAN  's  DIRECTORY  OF  BUYERS 81 

By  Charles  W.  Norton,  District  Sales  Manager, 
The   Shaw-Walker   Company 

XI.     THE  SALESMAN'S  ALBUM  OF  CUSTOMERS 86 

XII.     THE    SALESMAN  's    MEMORY    PARTNER 92 

By  Charles  W.  Norton,  District  Sales  Manager, 
The  Shaw-Walker   Company 

PAET   V 
HOW    TO    KEEP    CUSTOMERS    IN    LINE 

The  Comeback  Tliat  Counts 

XIII.  GETTING   THE   RE-ORDERS    97 

By   P.   W.   Lennen,  Sales   Manager,    The   Royal 
Tailors 

XIV.  THE  SALESMAN  AS   THE   CUSTOMER'S   PARTNER....   100 

By  W.  F.  Hypes,  Sales  Manager,  Marshall  Field 
&    Company 

XV.     GIVING  THE  CUSTOMER  A  LIFT 104 

By  P.  W.   Lennen,    Sales   Manager,    The   Royal 
Tailors 

XVI.     THE  SALESMAN'S  FOLLOW-UP  BETWEEN   CALLS.         107 


PAET  VI 
HOW  TO  USE  THE  CO-OPERATION  OF  THE  HOUSE 

Shoulder  to  Shoulder 

XVII.     FURNISHING   THE   SALESMAN    AMMUNITION 115 

By     T.     Channing     Moore,     District     Manager, 
International   Time   Recorder    Company 

XVIII.     HELPING  THE  SALESMAN   HOLD   CUSTOMERS 120 

By  George  B.  Spencer 

XIX.     POSTING  THE  HOUSE  ON  TRADE  CONDITIONS 123 

By   Charles   E.    Cake,   of   The    Office  Appliance 
Company 


Part  I 


THE  GAME  OF  SELLING 


ESSENTIALS  OF 
SALESMANSHIP 


In  this  chart  are  analyzed  the  requisite  qualities  of  knowledge,  confidence 
and  personality  which  constitute  the  essentials  of  salesmanship 


Play  Your  Part 

PLAY  THE  GAME! 

It's  the  steady,  vigilant,  intense  fighting 
with  every  ounce  of  strength  given  to 
every  minute  of  play  that  wins  the  game 
of  business — the  pennants  of  commerce, 

Ignore  the  odds  against  you — the  long 
struggle  ahead — the  strength  of  the  oppo- 
sition—the jeering  of  the  multitude. 

Keep  your  eye  on  the  ball — your  hope 
and  determination  on  the  goal.  Plan 
every  move — watch  every  signal— seize 
every  opportunity  as  though  it  meant  the 
winning  play. 

A  mountain  is  only  a  large  mole  hill;  a 
Gibraltar  must  yield  to  incessant  drip- 
ping. And  it's  this  steady,  pushing 
pounding,  hammering  of  ceaseless  play 
that  lands  the  ball  on  the  right  side  of  the 
goal  line — and  the  profits  on  the  right 
side  of  the  ledger. 

PLAY  THE  GAME! 


^ 
, 


CHAPTER  I 
Selling — the  Lifeblood  of  Business 

BY  WALTER  H.  COTTINGHAM 

Vice-President  and  General  Manager,  The  Sherwin-Williams 

Company 

What  is  business? 

This  game  which  men  play,  revel  in,  live  for — 

This  game  which  men  play  and  continue  to  play,  even 
after  its  apparent  object  is  accomplished — after  great 
fortunes  are  laid  away  ? 

What  is  the  sustaining  element  in  this  great  game 
which  develops  men  and  builds  up  industries  and  nations 
as  a  by-product  of  the  joy  of  playing! 

What  is  it  that  keeps  quick  the  nerve  centers  and 
furnishes  the  lifeblood? 

It  is  another,  inner  game — the  game  of  selling.  Here 
it  is  that  men  match  skill  and  shrewdness  in  the  struggle 
for  success. 

The  selling  force  is  the  fighting  factor — the  militia — 
of  every  house.  It  establishes  the  outposts  of  industry, 
it  gains  new  ground  to  build  up  strength  and  stability, 
it  guards  from  threatened  failures  the  stronghold  of 
success. 

Loyalty  to  the  men  on  the  firing  line  is  the  patriotism 
of  the  business  world,  and  the  spirit  of  the  great  sell- 


8  THE  GAME  OF  SELLING 

ing  game  they  play  is  what  thrills  the  men  in  the  con- 
flict of  competition  and  makes  the  battle  of  business 
worth  waile.  , 

I?',    is  tht  Thrill  'of    Pise  sure  in    Conscious   Success   that 

.  c    c  r    •       '  <  ' 

Spurs  Men  on 

Business  is  warfare.  It  is  a  hard,  constant  fight  to 
the  finish.  The  moment  a  contestant  enters  the  field 
of  commerce  he  is  challenged  by  a  host  of  competitors. 
All  his  movements  are  disputed  and  opposed  by  those 
already  in  possession  of  the  field.  He  must  fight  to 
live.  He  must  conquer  to  succeed. 

So  it  is  that  a  man  of  business  is  like  a  soldier  of 
the  regiment.  And  like  the  well-trained  soldier  who 
delights  in  the  clamor  of  battle,  the  enterprising  busi- 
ness man  is  eager  for  the  struggle  of  competition.  He 
likes  the  excitement  of  contending  for  supremacy.  He 
delights  to  overcome  those  who  oppose  him  and  he  finds 
genuine  pleasure  in  outwitting  his  rivals. 

It  is  the  spirit  of  rivalry  that  sharpens  a  man's  in- 
tellect and  spurs  on  his  energy.  And  unless  a  man  is 
possessed  of  this  desire  to  overcome,  to  surpass,  to  stand 
first  in  his  line,  he  can  never  hope  to  carry  the  day,  he 
will  never  succeed  in  the  fight. 

Profit,  which  is  the  reward  of  industry  and  ability 
in  business,  is  not  the  sole  object  and  consideration  that 
actuates  the  really  successful  man.  The  love  of  gain 
cannot  inspire  him  to  the  highest  endeavor.  There  must 
be  something  greater,  something  more  enduring  to  call 
forth  his  supreme  efforts  and  satisfy  his  ambition. 

And  that  something  is  the  same  spirit  that  is  possessed 
by  the  men  of  war  who  go  into  battle  to  do  or  die. 

Every  man  likes  to  win — at  something.  Is  it  not  so  ? 
The  love  of  victory  is  in  every  man's  heart,  and  the 


THE  LIFEBLOOD  OF  BUSINESS  9 

greatest  game  in  all  the  world  is  the  game  of  success. 
Men's  ideas  of  success  may  differ,  but  I  believe  eyery 
man  desires  it,  and  aims  at  it  in  some  form  or  other. 

Winning  success  is  a  serious  matter.  It  cannot  be 
accomplished  in  an  easy  or  offhand  manner.  It's 
strictly  and  painfully  true — there's  no  royal  road  to 
the  goal.  It's  hard  pull  up  hill,  over  a  rocky,  if  straight, 
road  all  the  way.  You  can't  make  it  without  climbing, 
nor  without  bruises.  When  you  reach  the  top  you  may 
ride  in  your  carriage  or  automobile,  but  you'll  have  no 
time  or  use  for  these  on  the  way  up.  In  the  heat  of 
the  battle  and  in  the  stress  of  the  struggle  you  must  go 
unaided  and  alone. 

It's  the  only  way  and  the  best  way.  Success  would 
possess  no  charm  apart  from  the  struggle.  It's  in  the 
winning  hour,  in  overcoming,  in  conquering,  that  the 
victor  finds  his  joy. 

Opportunities  are  Unlimited  for  the  Man  with 
Ambition  to  Win  New  Victories. 

Progress  is  development,  and  development  is  the  pur- 
pose of  life.  Where  there  is  no  progress  there  is  stag- 
nation, and  stagnation  is  death.  The  great  country  in 
which  we  enjoy  the  privilege  and  good  fortune  of  living 
is  the  most  progressive  in  the  world.  No  other  country 
ever  advanced  so  rapidly  or  so  far.  No  other  people 
have  enjoyed  such  a  measure  of  prosperity  as  the 
American  people.  Such  is  the  atmosphere  in  which 
we  live  and  work.  It  is  as  natural  for  our  aggressive 
organization  to  progress  as  it  is  for  us  to  breathe  the 
invigorating  air  that  sustains  us. 

Ambition  is  the  great  incentive  to  progress.  It  is 
the  desire  to  excel,  the  eagerness  to  surpass  old  records 
and  establish  new  ones,  that  fires  the  mind,  quickens 


10  THE  GAME  OF  SELLING 

the  pulse  and  prods  the  energy  to  attempt  greater 
achievements. 

Imagination  also  plays  a  great  part  in  the  march  of 
progress.  The  man  of  deeds  is  a  man  of  vision.  We 
must  first  picture  in  our  minds  the  aims  we  strive  for. 
We  must  behold  a  vision  of  what  we  long  to  be.  The 
plans  for  every  great  structure  first  exist  in  the  mind  of 
the  architect  before  they  find  expression  in  the  drawings 
of  his  chart.  So  the  plans  for  our  career,  which  is  to 
be  our  life's  work,  must  first  be  sketched  by  the  imagi- 
nation on  the  brain,  then  worked  out  by  the  mind  and 
at  last  realized  in  our  work. 

Too  many  work  without  plans  or  specifications — they 
never  see  the  vision,  and  their  structures  are  poor  and 
shapeless  and  never  enduring.  As  the  plans  are  crude 
and  small,  so  will  the  building  be. 

The  great  thing,  therefore,  is  to  plan  big  and  broad 
and  high  and  secure.  Keep  the  plans  ever  before  your 
eyes,  work  close  to  the  specifications  and  keep  building 
steadily  and  securely,  bit  by  bit,  until  your  structure 
rises  to  its  full  height  and  glory. 


Eve^ry  Man  a  Salesman 

THE  biggest  men  in  the  world  today 
are  salesmen.  They  may  call 
themselves  bankers,  lawyers,  engineers, 
or  ministers.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
are  all  selling  their  own  or  someone 
else's  services,  and  the  man  who  is  the 
best  salesman  gets  the  highest  price. 

Edwin  W.  Moore. 


CHAPTER  II 
The  Essentials  of  Salesmanship 

BY  J.  W.  BINDER 

Sales  Manager,  The  Dictaphone  Company  of  America 

The  essential  factors  of  salesmanship  are  two: 
knowledge  and  confidence. 

The  first  factor  is  divided,  for  purposes  of  clarity, 
into  two  sub-divisions — knowledge  of  yourself  and 
knowledge  of  your  goods.  Let  us  consider  them  in  their 
order. 

Knowledge  of  yourself.  What  does  this  mean?  Do 
you  know  yourself?  By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  you 
should  know  yourself  as  your  neighbor  knows  you,  as 
those  with  whom  you  come  in  contact  know  you.  I 
mean  a  different  kind  of  knowledge,  such  as  is  not 
obtained  tnrough  the  criticism  of  your  friends  or  your 
enemies,  nor  by  listening  to  what  other  people  say  about 
you.  Such  knowledge  is  obtained  only  by  rigid  intro- 
spection. Some  night  after  you  have  retired  and  the 
lights  are  out,  ask  yourself  frankly  the  question — What 
are  your  strong  points?  What  are  your  weak  points? 
Do  not  attempt  to  disguise  from  yourself  that  you  have 
some  of  each.  Be  perfectly  frank. 

First,  as  to  your  strong  points.  Are  you  courageous! 
Are  you  persistent?  Do  you  have  that  faculty  of  tak- 

11 


12  THE  GAME  OF  SELLING 

• 

ing  hold  of  a  thing  and  sticking  to  it  until  it  is  finished  ? 
Do  you  have  the  quality  of  initiative?  If  you  have 
not  these  qualities,  cultivate  them.  Without  them  you 
will  not  amount  to  a  very  great  deal. 

A  second  point:  Are  you  truthful?  By  this  I  mean 
not  according  to  the  tenets  of  common  honesty,  but  are 
you  truthful  with  yourself  ?  Look  into  this  matter  care- 
fully, and  if  you  are  not,  cultivate  absolute  truthful- 
ness. 

So  much  for  the  first  point — knowledge  of  yourself. 

Thorough  Knowledge  of  the  Product  an  Absolute 

Essential 

Now,  regarding  the  second  point,  knowledge  of  your 
product,  I  cannot  make  it  too  emphatic  that  no  sales- 
man who  attempts  to  sell  anything,  whether  it  be  a 
yeast  cake  or  the  most  complicated  machine,  can  hope 
to  succeed  unless  he  knows  that  yeast  cake  or  machine 
a  thousand  per  cent  better  than  the  man  to  whom  he 
wishes  to  sell  it.  If  you  are  selling  a  yeast  cake  you 
must  know  exactly  of  what  it  is  composed.  You  must 
know  how  many  molecules  of  carbon,  of  hydrogen,  of 
nitrogen  are  in  it.  You  must  know  exactly  what  these 
will  do  under  given  conditions.  I  say  you  must  know 
this  very  much  better  than  the  man  to  whom  you  are 
attempting  to  sell  it,  because  if  you  do  not,  the  chances 
are  he  will  corner  you,  and  you  will  lose  his  business. 

If  you  are  selling  a  machine,  you  must  know  all  about 
that  machine.  This  implies  knowledge  of  its  mechanical 
construction,  knowledge  of  the  processes  which  make  up 
that  construction,  and  knowledge  of  what  it  will  do 
under  certain  circumstances.  In  short,  you  must  know 
it  "down  to  the  ground.'  Then  it  is  not  enough 
merely  to  know  its  mechanical  construction.  The  sales- 


ESSENTIALS  OF  SALESMANSHIP  13 

man  who  is  satisfied  to  know  merely  that,  will  be  a 
weak  man  at  best.  You  must  know,  aside  from  this, 
the  possibilities  of  your  machine.  Write  alongside  of 
this  word  "possibilities"  another  quality  without  which 
a  salesman  can  be  of  little  account.  It  is  the  word 
"imagination.'  Imagination  is  as  essential  to  the  sales- 
man as  to  the  poet  or  novelist. 

Keep  your  head  in  the  clouds,  but  keep  your  feet  on 
the  ground.  Be  sure  to  do  that  or  you  will  not  draw 
your  salary,  but  look  ahead.  Don't  see  only  the  im- 
mediate present,  but  contemplate  the  magnificent  future 
which  is  ahead  of  you,  and  if  you  are  selling  a  proposi- 
tion which  does  not  arouse  these  qualities,  get  out,  and 
get  into  something  that  will. 

So  much  for  the  need  of  imagination  in  a  salesman 
if  he  would  be  properly  equipped. 

This  brings  you  logically  to  the  second  factor  in  sales- 
manship, which  is  confidence. 

Confidence  the  Prime  Requisite  to  a  Salesman's 

Personality 

Confidence  is  the  one  factor  which  gets  more  orders 
than  any  other  quality  of  salesmanship.  What  is  it 
which  impresses  you  in  a  man  who  approaches  you  with 
a  proposition? 

Suppose  he  comes  into  your  office  in  a  half-hearted 
manner,  his  whole  attitude  abject,  like  "Uriah  Heep" 
of  Dickens'  creation.  Does  he  impress  you  as  a  strong 
man?  Will  you  listen  to  him?  No,  you  will  "shoo" 
him  out  of  the  office. 

But  suppose  that  he  opens  the  door,  comes  in  with  a 
firm  tread,  with  his  head  up  and  his  chest  out.  He  looks 
you  straight  in  the  eye,  sits  down  by  your  desk,  and 
you  immediately  feel  the  force  of  his  personality. 


14  THE  GAME  OF  SELLING 

Don't  you  believe  that  the  chances  of  such  an  approach, 
of  such  a  demonstration  are  very  much  better  for  the 
man  getting  an  order  than  they  would  be  if  he  ap- 
proached you  in  a  manner  which  convinced  you  before 
he  had  said  a  word  that  he  had  no  confidence,  either  in 
himself  or  his  proposition? 

Now  having  considered  the  two  facts  which  are  essen- 
tial in  the  makeup  of  a  salesman,  let  me  say  that  having 
these  two,  knowledge  and  confidence,  you  will  naturally 
have  the  result  of  these  two,  enthusiasm.  Without  en- 
thusiasm no  great  deed  was  ever  done.  If  you  go 
back  in  your  mind  over  the  pages  of  history  as  you 
know  it,  and  think  of  the  men  who  have  left  their  im* 
press  upon  the  world's  history,  you  will  find  that  to  the 
last  man  they  were  enthusiasts.  Most  of  them  were  en- 
thusiasts to  a  degree  that  they  gave  up  their  lives  in 
defense  of  the  peculiar  subject  which  aroused  their  en-. 
thusiasm,  but  one  and  all  they  were  dreamers;  enthusi- 
asts, to  my  mind,  is  a  better  word. 


The  Balanced  Salesman 

A  REAL  salesman  is  one  part  talk 
and  nine   parts  judgment;  and  he 
uses  the  nine  parts  of  judgment  to  tell 
when  to  use  the  one  part  of  talk. 

George  H.  Lorimcr. 


Part  II 


HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 




INQUIRIES 

FINDING  THE 

PROSPECT 



LISTS 

1  

NEWS  REPORTS 

PRELIMINARY 

INFORMATION 

. 

FINDING  RIGHT  MAN 

PASSING  GUARD 

STEPS 
IN  THE  SALE 

— 

(FINDING  POINT  OF  CONTACT 

GETTING  ATTENTION 

AROUSING  INTEREST 

COMPOSITION  AND 

DEMONSTRA- 

MANUFACTURE 

TION 

USES  AND  ADAPTABILITIES 

ARGUMENT 

COMPARING  WITH 
COMPETITORS 

CREATING  FEELING 

[ANSWERING 

— 

OBJECTIONS 
(SEE  PART  3) 

ARGUING  BY  FIGURES 

closE 

A  graphic  analysis  of  a  sale,  from  the  finding  of  the  prospect  to  the  close 
as  treated  in  detail  in  the  following  part 


Know  How 


There  is  no  such  thing  as  luck  in  the  game 
of  selling.  It  is  governed  by  a  code  of 
rules  as  strict  as  the  laws  of  mathematics. 

It  admits  of  no  speculation,  no  uncertain- 
ties. It  is  a  science  with  causes  and  ef- 
fects unerring  in  their  accuracy. 

It  is  with  selling  as  it  is  with  health.  You 
may  violate  the  laws  of  nature  without 
bringing  immediate  death.  But  you 
weaken  your  vitality,  you  lessen  your 
physical  force. 

So  you  may  violate  the  laws  of  selling 
without  courting  immediate  failure.  But 
you  cripple  your  capacity,  you  discount 
your  ability. 

Study  the  code.  Read  the  rules.  Make 
every  sale  right. 

Know  howl 


CHAPTER  III 

. 

The  Steps  in  the  Sale 

BY  W.  A.  WATERBURY 
Sales  Manager,  A.  B.  Dick  Company 

The  present  day  scientific  salesman  is  a  student  of 
psychology.  He  learns  by  observation  of  the  men  he 
meets  the  natural  laws  by  which  the  mind  is  governed 
and  arranges  accordingly  the  plan  of  his  proposition. 

He  learns  that  before  the  average  customer  can  be 
persuaded  to  buy  an  article  his  mind  must  be  led 
through  four  stages.  The  first  step  is  attention.  He 
must  concentrate  the  prospect's  mind  on  the  article  he 
is  presenting.  Next  he  must  arouse  his  interest  and, 
building  on  this,  lead  up  to  the  next  step,  desire.  When 
this  point  is  reached  the  salesman  must  recognize  it  im- 
mediately and  endeavor  to  bring  the  customer  to  a  de- 
cision to  buy.  To  make  the  mistake  of  talking  beyond 
this  point — the  so-called  "psychological  moment" — may 
mean  the  loss  of  the  sale. 

Salesman  First  Questions  the  Prospect  Regarding 
His  Needs  to  Be  Sure  of  His  Position 

But  let  us  follow  through  in  a  *nore  detailed  way  the 
process  of  a  sale.  Assume  that  an  inquiry  has  been  re- 
ceived regarding  an  article  and  that  a  salesman  goes 

17 


18  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

the  inquirer's  place  of  business  to  present  his  proposi- 
tion. 

He  first  determines  whether  the  prospect  has  use  for 
the  article  or  to  what  purpose  he  desires* to  put  it.  This 
information  gives  the  salesman  the  lay  of  the  ground  and 
enables  him  to  plan  his  sales  talk  accordingly. 

Second,  he  must  convince  the  customer  that  the  article 
he  needs  is  the  particular  one  that  the  salesman  has  to 
sell.  To  do  this  he  must  make  clear  the  exact  advan- 
tages which  the  article  will  afford  him  in  his  business; 
that  is,  he  must  convince  the  customer  that  it  will  be  of 
value  to  him  either  in  bringing  additional  business  to 
him  or  in  saving  him  time,  labor  or  money,  or  that  it 
will  accomplish  the  same  end  in  some  other  way. 

Following  this,  the  salesman  must  show  him  the  su- 
perior feature  of  the  particular  make  of  article  or  line 
he  is  handling  over  that  offered  by  competitors  or  an? 
other  it  is  possible  to  procure.  I  do  not  consider  it 
wise  to  depreciate  the  meritorious  features  of  a  com- 
peting article,  but  rather  to  extol  the  superior  features 
of  my  own. 

One  of  the  main  points  in  presenting  the  proposition 
is  to  be  as  lucid  as  possible  in  the  description.  No  new 
point  or  argument  should  be  taken  until  the  one  under 
consideration  has  taken  effect  and  made  a  definite 
impression. 

How  to  Handle  the  Prospect  at  the  Climax — the 
Important  Point  in  the  Sale 

It  is  just  as  important  to  know  when  to  stop  talking 
as  to  know  what  to  say,  and  it  is  always  well  to  give  the 
customer  an  opportunity  to  do  his  share  of  questioning, 
for  this  gives  the  salesman  an  opportunity  to  dispose  of 
any  objections  that  may  be  brought  up. 


THE  STEPS  IN  THE  SALE  19 

When  the  customer  has  thus  displayed  an  active  inter- 
est in  the  proposition,  the  salesman  should  watch  him 
closely  for  an  opening  to  bring  the  selling  talk  to  a 
climax.  He  will  need  to  judge  from  the  individual  case 
and  circumstances  just  how  to  close  the  sale,  but  when 
he  sees  that  the  prospect  is  on  the  point  of  making  the 
decision,  the  salesman  should  write  out  the  order  and,  in 
a  most  matter  of  fact  way,  without  asy  break  in  the 
conversation,  pass  it  over  to  be  signed. 

Getting  the  signed  order  is  the  all  important  thing,  for 
the  average  man  does  not  like  to  back  out  and  counter- 
mand an  order  to  which  he  has  attached  his  signature. 
He  may  argue  for  a  delay,  but  once  the  prospect  has 
been  carried  through  the  process  of  the  sale,  every  pos- 
sible resource  of  the  salesman  should  be  brought  forth 
at  the  close  to  secure  the  actual  order.  A  signed  con- 
tract for  one  article  on  the  spot  is  ordinarily  worth  more 
than  a  hundred  promises  for  the  future. 

The  Six  Steps  in  Making  a  Sale  and  How  Each  One 
is  Made  l>y  the  Salesman 

In  every  sale,  therefore,  there  are  six  steps,  and  these 
steps  follow  each  other  in  regular  order : 

1.  Finding  the  prospect. 

2.  The  pre-approach — the  preparations  the  salesman 
makes,  the  information  he  gathers,  before  he  goes  into 
the  presence  of  the  prospect. 

3.  The  approach — this  is  the  gaining-attention  stage, 

4.  The  demonstration — the  description  and  explana- 
tion of  the  goods,  by  which  the  salesman  arouses  the  in- 
terest of  the  prospect. 

5.  The  argument— the  application  of  the  goods  to  the 
prospect's  needs,  the  convention  stage. 

6.  The  climax  and  closing — the  taking  of  the  order. 


20  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

Every  sale  has  these  six  steps.  But  in  no  two  sales 
are  they  ever  the  same  length,  or  taken  in  just  the  same 
way.  Depending  upon  the  salesman,  the  goods  and  the 
prospect — one  or  another  of  these  steps  may  be  empha- 
sized and  the  rest  or  some  of  the  rest  thrown  in  the 
background. 

Every  customer  must  be  found; — the  salesman  must 
gather  some  prelim inaiy  information ;  he  must  meet  his 
prospect  for  the  first  time;  he  must  demonstrate  his 
goods;  he  must  bring  forth  arguments  as  to  why  the 
prospect  should  buy;  he  must  close  the  sale. 

But  sometimes  it  takes  only  a  hint  from  a  fellow 
salesman  or  an  inquiry,  to  find  a  prospect;  and  at  other 
times  it  requires  a  month's  work — everything  from  a 
national  advertising  campaign  down  to  an  examination 
of  the  local  directory.  In  the  case  of  one,  the  salesman, 
in  preparing  to  meet  the  prospect  the  first  time,  learns 
his  name  and  phone  number.  In  the  case  of  the  other, 
he  may  want  to  learn  all  about  his  business: — exactly 
what  he  manufactures  or  deals  in;  what  his  volume  of 
business  is ;  how  much  of  these  particular  goods  he  buys ; 
where  he  is  buying  his  supply;  he  will  want  to  find  out 
about  his  personal  habits,  what  his  fads  and  fancies  are — 
what  kind  of  a  disposition  he  has.  He  may  have  to  pull 
wires  for  a  month,  getting  letters  of  introduction  or 
finding  some  way  to  get  at  the  prospect  that  is  unusual, 
but  sure. 


Man  to  Man 

TT^VERY  salesman  recognizes  the  im- 
•"-^  portance  of  the  personal  element — 
the  intimate  touch  as  man  and  man 
rather  than  as  seller  arid  buyer. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Selling  a  Specialty 

BY  J.  W.  BINDER 

Sales  Manager,  The  Dictaphone  Company  of  America 

It  is  one  thing  to  plan  a  campaign  for  selling  the 
goods  and  another  thing  to  sell  them.  It  requires  one 
type  of  man  and  experience  to  do  the  first,  another1  type 
for  the  second. 

The  selling  campaigns  of  successful  companies  follow 
a  definite,  carefully  worked  out  and  laid  out  plan.  Suc- 
cessful houses  are  working  out  just  as  definite  and  specific 
methods  to  be  followed  in  the  making  of  actual  sales.  The 
salesman  no  longer  signs  his  name  to  a  contract  of  em- 
ployment, takes  a  grip  and  wanders  away  into  the  open 
field,  dependent  solely  upon  his  own  resources.  Now  he 
follows  a  definite,  proved-by-experience  plan,  prepared  by 
his  house,  for  selling  each  customer  whom  he  approaches. 

This  is  the  story  of  how  an  actual  sale  was  begun, 
carried  through  and  closed.  The  machines  were  sold  by 
the  author  of  this  article  to  the  Oil  Well  Supply  Com- 
pany. The  letters  quoted  and  reproduced  are  in  the 
files  of  the  author. 

This  is  a  usual,  not  an  exceptional  case.  It  shows 
in  detail  how  a  successful  company  markets  its  product. 
Especial  value  attaches  to  it  from  the  fact  that  the 


22  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALfe 

prospective  buyer  had  to  be  educated  to  a  knowledge  and 
appreciation  of  the  machine.  The  story  tells  just  how 
the  feeling  of  need  and  the  consequent  desire  were  in- 
stilled in  the  prospect. 

The  sale  of  an  equipment  of  the  commercial  grapho- 
phone  is  begun  weeks  before  the  customer  is  approached. 

Each  step  taken  is  part  of  a  carefully  mapped  out 
scheme,  the  aim  of  which  is  to  eliminate,  in  so  far  as  is 
possible,  the  element  of  chance  in  the  transaction. 

The  first  step  in  making  the  sale  is  the  compilation 
of  a  list  of  the  firms  who  should  be  users  of  the  com- 
mercial graphophone.  These  are  secured  from  Dun's 
and  Bradstreet's,  from  the  membership  lists  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Mercantile  and  Manufac- 
turers' Association,  and  other  sources  to  which  we  have 
access. 

A  card  is  written  for  each  of  these  firms;  on  it,  in 
addition  to  their  office  address,  is  placed  their  rating, 
the  line  of  business  in  which  they  are  engaged,  the 
names  of  their  officers,  the  name  of  their  purchasing 
agent,  and,  if  possible  to  secure  it,  the  name  of  their 
sales  manager.  Any  personal  information  regarding 
any  or  all  of  these  men  obtained  from  any  source  is  also 
recorded.  It  may  be  that  Brown  of  the  firm  of  Brown 
&  Hillegass,  who  is  an  enthusiastic  user  of  the  grapho- 
phone, and  a  good  friend  of  mine,  calls  me  on  the  tele- 
phone and  whispers  that  'Jones  of  the  firm  of  Jones  & 
Laughlin,  or  some  other  equally  enterprising  concern, 
was  in  Brown's  office  yesterday  and  wanted  to  know 
about  the  machines. 

This  information  is  carefully  recorded  on  Jones  & 
Laughlin 's  card.  It  may  be  that  no  card  had  been 
previously  made  out.  If  so,  no  time  is  lost  in  making 
one,  and  when  it  comes  time  for  Jones  &  Laughlin  to 


SELLING  A  SPECIALTY  23 

take  their  little  dose  of  commercial  graphophone  litera- 
ture, the  letter,  instead  of  being  addressed  to  the  firm 
and  finding  its  way  to  the  waste  basket,  is  addressed  to 
Jones  personally.  If  we  are  shy  his  initials,  the  direc- 
tory has  in  the  meantime  supplied  these. 

How  All  Information  Received  Regarding  Possible 

Prospects  is  Recorded 

These  cards  are  filed  in  a  drawer  marked  "Prospects/ 
They  are  filed  alphabetically  and  by  towns.  Once  each 
day  six  names  are  selected  from  this  file,  and,  the  aotea 
on  the  cards  having  been  carefully  considered,  a  per- 
sonal letter  is  dictated  to  each.  This  writing  of  personal 
letters  insures  each  distinct  type  of  business  being 
handled  just  as  it  needs  to  be.  The  manufacturer  of 
pig  iron  receives  a  materially  different  letter  than  ia 
sent  out  to  the  lawyer,  and  his  again  is  different  from 
that  which  goes  to  the  manager  of  a  large  department 
store. 

With  this  letter  is  enclosed  a  little  booklet  just  large 
enough  to  fit  the  vest  pocket,  entitled,  ' '  It  Saves  Time. ' 
A  neatly  printed  list  of  the  users  of  the  graphophone 
in  and  about  Pittsburg  is  also  enclosed. 

The  sending  of  the  tetter  and  literature  are  recorded 
on  the  prospect  card,  and  it  is  transferred,  together  with 
copies  of  the  correspondence,  to  a  holdover  file,  which 
occupies  a  prominent  place  on  the  top  of  my  desk. 
Here  it  stays  until  the  deal  is  closed,  or  a  flat  refusal 
to  purchase  has  been  given.  Copies  of  any  subsequent 
letters  are  added  to  it.  In  case  the  sale  is  not  made,  and 
the  closing  letter  states  that  the  matter  may  be  con- 
sidered at  some  future  time,  the  card  is  endorsed,  "Not 
dead,  but  sleeping/'  and  filed  in  a  drawer,  to  be  fol- 
lowed up  later.  If  a  specific  date  be  fixed  for  again 


24  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

taking  up  the  subject,  a  note  is  made  on  the  card  for 
that  date  in  the  desk  tickler. 

It  will  be  noted  that  all  the  work  up  to  this  point  has 
for  its  object  to  give  the  salesman  a  knowledge  of  his 
prospective  buyer,  which  will  stand  him  in  good  stead 
when  he  meets  him  face  to  face.  It  is,  of  course,  Taken 
for  granted  that  he  is  possessed  of  all  the  knowledge 
of  his  machine  necessary — and  this  means  knowing  it 
"down  to  the  ground. "  If  he  does  not  have  this,  he 
had  better  get  it  or  resign.  He  must  be  in  a  position 
to  meet  and  overcome  instantly  any  and  all  objections 
which  may  be  raised.  It  is  good  business  sometimes  to 
anticipate  the  objections  and  thus  rob  tlie  buyer  of  his 
"  thunder. " 

Salesmen  Must  Have  Knowledge  of  Both  His 
Machine  and  His  Prospect 

Tiie  sale  of  a  commercial  graphopiione  depends  en- 
tirely upon  the  ability  of  the  salesman  to  make  the 
buyer  see  the  following  three  points  which  are  claimed 
for  the  machine: 

First,  that  the  use  of  the  machines  will  save  him  from 
40  to  50  per  cent  of  his  expense  for  letter  writing. 

Second,  that  with  them  he  is  the  absolute  master  of 
his  time.  He  can  dictate  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or 
night,  and  at  any  desired  rate  of  speed. 

Third,  that  letters  dictated  in  this  way — at  the  mo- 
ment when  the  subject  is  fresh  in  his  mind,  and  in  abso- 
lute privacy — are  apt  to  be  better  constructed,  more 
concise  than  when  dictated  to  the  average  stenographer, 
who,  when  the  pace  becomes  hot,  as  mental  concentration 
advances,  is  apt  to  interrupt  the  dictator  to  inquire, 
artlessly,  "Please,  sir,  did  you  say  oxtail  soup  or  castile 
soap?  " 


SELLING  A  SPECIALTY  25 

There  are,  of  course,  many  other  supplementary  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  machine.  But  the  arguments  that 
count  in  the  approach,  in  the  heat  of  battle  and  in  the 
closing  of  the  deal  are  always  the  ones  set  down  above. 
The  refrain  of  "40  per  cent"  is  sweet  music  to  the  ear 
of  the  prospective  buyer  in  these  days  of  keen  com- 
petition. He  is  the  man,  probably,  who  has  to  face  a 
board  of  directors  at  the  annual  meeting  and  explain 
why  the  dividend,  which  was  8  per  cent  last  year,  is 
only  6  per  cent  this  year.  In  this  embarrassing  posi- 
tion, a  40  per  cent  saving  in  any  department  is  as  a  life 
preserver  to  the  hapless  voyager  who  has  fallen  over- 
board in  mid- Atlantic. 

This  being  the  case,  the  points  above  covered  are 
brought  out  prominently  in  every  letter  that  is  written 
leading  up  to  the  first  interview.  They  are  made  the 
prominent  feature  of  that  interview.  In  the  trial  of 
the  machines  which  ensues,  the  records  of  work  done 
are  carefully  tabulated  with  regard  to  the  saving,  con- 
venience and  better  construction  of  letters.  In  closing 
the  deal,  all  this  is  brought  to  bear  upon  the  buyer, 
to  prove  that  the  claims  made  have  been  amply  sub- 
stantiated, and  that  he  cannot  afford  to  be  without  the 
machine  "that  saves  Mm  40  per  cent." 

Newness  of  the  Product  Demands  Full  Explanation 

of  Advantages 

In  most  instances  the  use  of  a  commercial  grapho- 
phone  is  an  entirely  new  thing  to  the  man  to  whom 
you  are  talking.  He  uses  typewriters,  has  used  them 
for  years;  automobiles  he  knows  all  about;  adding  ma- 
chines are  no  longer  untried  mysteries  to  him.  But 
when  I  come  along  and  talk  to  him  about  a  commercial 
graphophone,  he  at  ones  removes  himself  to  t?«nt  mys- 


26  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 


Forra  x:    The  prospect  card  on  which  is  gathered  the  fullest  possible  information  re- 
garding firms  and  individuals  to  be  approached  by  salesmen.     The 
check  indicates  the  proper  man  to  see 

terious  region  known  as  "Missouri,"  and  demands  to  be 
shown.  So  to  the  work  of  salesmanship  is  added  the 
factor  of  educating  him  first  as  to  his  need  for  the 
machine,  and,  second,  as  to  what  the  machine  is. 

Another  obstacle  which  the  commercial  graphophone 
salesman  has  to  meet  which  is  not  true  of  many  other 
lines  is  the  opposition  of  stenographers.  The  writer  well 
remembers  when  the  lineotype  typesetting  machine  was 
first  introduced.  I  firmly  believe  that  ten  years  from 
now,  all  dictation  of  whatever  kind  or  description  will 
be  given  to  machines.  I  am  just  as  firmly  convinced 
that  ten  years  from  now,  there  will  be  fifty  per  cent  more 
typewriter  operators  employed  than  there  are  at  this 
time. 

In  some  instances  the  opposition  of  stenographers  has 
been  the  factor  which  made  me  lose  a  sale,  but  the 
number  of  business  houses  who  allow  any  influence  aside 
from  the  opinion  of  the  responsible  head  to  dictate  their 
policies  is  becoming  less  all  the  time. 


SELLING  A  SPECIALTY  27 

Bearing  these  points  in  mind,  we  will  now  proceed  to 
show  just  how  a  sale  of  commercial  graphophones  is 
made.  On  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  September,  1904, 
among  the  six  prospect  cards  which  were  brought  out 
of  the  file  to  be  written  to  was  the  one  shown  in  Figure  I. 

The  data  on  the  card  having  been  mentally  digested, 
I  dictated  the  letter  reproduced  in  Figure  II  as  the  first 
move. 

With  this  letter  was  enclosed  some  advertising  matter 
regarding  the  advantages  of  the  commercial  grapho- 
phone,  and  a  list  of  the  firms  in  and  about  the  city  who 
were  already  users. 

Two  days  later  the  letter  shown  in  Figure  II  was 
received  from  Mr.  J.  D.  Brown,  manager  of  the  sales 
department  of  the  Oil  .Well  Supply  Company. 

On  receiving  this  letter  I  called  up  Mr.  Brown  and 
made  an  engagement  to  see  him  about  11  o'clock  to  talk 
over  the  matter.  Promptly  at  the  hour  I  was  ushered 
into  his  -presence. 

Emphasizing  the  Strongest  Point  of  the  Article  in 

the  Selling  Tzlk 

I  found  Mr.  Brown  to  be  a  very  cordial  man,  but 
keen,  accustomed  to  doing  business  quickly.  He  had 
my  correspondence  before  him,  and  without  delay  we  got 
down  to  business.  He  went  straight  to  the  heart  of  the 
question. 

"This  40  per  cent  saving/'  he  asked,  "how  is  it  ef- 
fected ? ' ' 

"Just  this  way,"  and  I  explained  it  to  him  in  a  few 
words. 

He  was  interested. 

"Now  let  us  do  a  little  figuring,  if  you  please,"  I 
continued.  And  in  detail  I  figured  out  the  number  of 


28 


HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 


hours,  and  reduced  these  to  the  dollars  and  cents  of  the 
actual  saving  this  would  bring  Mr.  Brown. 

While  I  was  demonstrating  this  saving  in  percentages, 
in  the  actual  figures  of  his  particular  circumstances, 
Mr.  Brown  was  jotting  down  some  figures  on  a  pad  of 
paper,  and  when  I  had  concluded,  he  had  reduced  the 
percentages  to  dollars  and  cents.  It  was  contemplated 
to  install  four  machines,  two  in  the  sales  department  and 


il  WELL  SUPPLY  COMPANY" 


Form:  II  The  first  exchange  of  letters  which  led  to  the  actual  sale  described  in  the 
chapter.     On  the  left  is  shown  the  "first  gun  "  in  the  fight, 
at  the  right  the  "come  on. " 

two  in  that  of  the  purchasing  end.  The  stenographers 
were  each  paid  $75  per  month.  Mr.  Brown  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  the  time  saved  daily  by  the  two 
stenographers  would  amount,  in  wages  saved  alone,  in 
one  month  to  $51.84. 

"On  the  face  of  it,'  he  said,  "this  looks  to  me  like 
a  good  thing.  But  look  here,  what's  this  outfit  going 
to  cost  us,  and  what  will  be  the  expense  of  maintaining 
it — I  mean  for  supplies,  repairs,  etc?' 


SELLING  A  SPECIALTY  29 

' '  Your  initial  expense  will  be  about  $300  for  the  entire 
outfit.  This  will  include  enough  cylinders  to  last  you 
six  months.' 

' '  Those  cylinders, '  interposed  Mr.  Brown,  '  what  do 
they  cost,  and  how  long  will  each  one  last  ? ' 

"A  cylinder  holds  eight  average  business  letters  of 
fourteen  lines  each.  You  can  shave  this  cylinder  100 
times.  This  gives  you  800  letters  at  a  cost  of  30  cents, 
plus  the  time  of  a  boy  used  in  shaving  the  cylinder. 
This  is  a  good  deal  less  than  the  notebooks  and  pencils 
would  cost  you  to  take  shorthand  dictation  for  the  same 
number  of  letters.' 

While  I  was  saying  this  I  had  reduced  the  calculation 
to  figures  on  the  pad  before  Mr.  Brown.  I  believe  in 
putting  any  proposition  in  salesmanship  into  figures. 
Your  customer  comprehends  it  much  better.  It  inspires 
confidence,  too.  The  buyer's  unconscious  mental  atti- 
tude is  that  the  statement  made  must  be  right  or  you 
would  not  be  willing  to  put  it  "in  writing.' 

Applying  Training  Knowledge  to  the  Prospect's 
Particular  Circumstances 

Mr.  Brown  checked  the  figures  on  my  calculation. 
Then  came  half  a  dozen  questions  in  quick  succession. 

"After  the  dictation  has  been  recorded  on  the  cylin- 
ders, can  my  stenographer  hear  it  well  enough  to  make 
rapid  time  in  transcription?' 

"Suppose  I  am  interrupted  in  the  middle  of  a  letter 
by  a  man  whom  I  don't  want  to  keep  waiting,  what 
then?" 

"But  suppose  I  have  forgotten  what  I  said  in  the 
letter  up  to  the  point  where  I  was  interrupted?' 

"Do  the  machines  require  much  attention?  Do  they 
get  out  of  order  easily  ? ' 


30 


HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 


These  questions  I  had,  of  course,  been  trained  by 
schooling  in  the  goods  and  by  practical  experience  to 
answer  without  hesitating.  And  in  each  case  the  answer 
was  made  specific  —  applicable  directly  to  this  man's 
circumstances. 

After  my  last  answer  Mr.  Brown  pushed  a  button  on 
his  desk. 


OfL  WEU.  SUPPLY  COMPANY 


.  U-ar'Wi-.  I/r«n* 


j 


Form  III:  The  letters  which  prepared  prospect  and  salesman  for  the  consummation  of 

the  selling  transaction,  one  giving  notice  of  the  expiration  of  the  trial  period, 

the  other  accepting  the  machines 


" 


' 


This 


Ask  Mr.  Connor  to  step  here  for  a  moment. 
to  the  boy  who  answered. 

Mr.  Connor  was  the  purchasing  agent  of  the  company. 
After  introducing  me,  Mr.  Brown  synopsized  the  prop- 
osition to  Mr.  Connor.  I  was  somewhat  surprised,  and 
not  a  little  taken  down,  to  note  how  well  he  did  this, 
how  the  points  which  had  impressed  him  were  empha- 
sized, to  the  exclusion  or  minimizing  of  the  non-essen- 
tials. Mr.  Connor  is  a  young  man.  It  is  enough  to 
say  that  he  is  a  native  Pittsburger.  He  hardly  uttered 
a  word  until  Mr.  Brown  had  finished.  Then,  to  me:  "If 
we  buy  these  machines  what  discount  do  you  give  ?  ' 


SELLING  A  SPECIALTY  31 

"Two  per  cent  for  cash  in  ten  days  from  date  of 
bill,"  I  answered. 

"No  more?"  he  queried. 

"That's  the  limit,"  was  my  reply. 

"All  right;  I'm  willing  to  give  them  a  whirl."  This 
to  Mr.  Brown.  "How  soon  can  you  install  them?'  he 

asked  me. 

"In  two  hours,"  I  came  back.     This  was  after  mine 

own  heart. 

"I'll  write  you  a  letter  today  receipting  this  propo- 
sition and  accepting  the  machines  on  the  trial  basis,' 
said  Mr.  Brown,  as  I  was  picking  up  my  hat  to  leave. 

"Wait  two  hours  and  dictate  it  to  the  graphophone. 
I'll  have  them  working  in  that  time,"  was  my  reply. 

How  the  Demonstrator  Helps  the  Prospective  Users 

During  the  Trial 

Two  hours  later  the  machines  were  installed.  In  the 
presence  of  all  of  the  men  who  were  to  give  dictation, 
I  dictated  a  cylinder  facetiously  headed  "Dissertation 
by  the  Doctor,"  in  which  I  outlined  the  proper  methods 
of  giving  dictation,  the  correct  pitch  of  the  voice,  how 
to  hold  the  pipe,  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  pronounc- 
ing all  the  syllables  of  each  word  distinctly,  ending  the 
whole  "spiel'1'  with  the  comforting  adjuration  that  these 
things,  while  they  appeared  somewhat  complicated  at 
first,  would  become  entirely  mechanical  later. 

After  having  each  one  of  the  dictators  listen  to  the 
"dissertation,'  I  had  each  one  dictate  a  letter,  and 
listen  to  its  reproduction.  Thus  each  saw,  or  rather 
heard,  the  flaws  in  his  manner  of  dictating,  and,  un- 
consciously, remedied  them. 

The  hour  thus  spent  was  repeated  each  day  of  the  trial 
period. 


32  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

On  the  day  previous  to  the  expiration  of  the  trial 
period  I  dictated  the  letter  reproduced  in  Figure  III 
to  the  Oil  Well  Supply  people,  calling  their  attention 
to  the  expiration  of  the  trial  period  and  soliciting  their 
order. 

In  response  to  this  I  received  next  day  the  letter  of 
acceptance  shown  in  Figure  III. 

Of  course  I  called,  and  Mr.  Brown  handed  me  the 
order,  for  which  I  thanked  him.  Later  I  dictated  a 
personal  letter  to  him  and  to  Mr.  Connor,  in  which 
their  uniform  courtesy  was  acknowledged,  and  the  as- 
surance given  that  I  would  be  pleased  always  tu  see  to  it 
that  their  business  received  my  personal  attention.  I  also 
suggested,  as  modestly  as  possible,  that  any  information 
regarding  other  business  houses  whose  crying  need  was 
commercial  graphophones  would  be  appreciated. 


The  Chain  of  Evidence 


salesman  who  determines  with 
A  absolute  accuracy  what  it  means, 
first,  to  prove  a  proposition,  and  second, 
to  apply  the  general  principles  of  dem- 
onstration to  an  immediate  matter  in 
hand,  knows  just  how  far  to  go  in 
making  a  demonstration,  what  to  in- 
clude and  what  to  exclude.  He  can 
sec  in  his  mind's  eye  the  chain  of  evi- 
dence that  he  is  fashioning  and  will 
make  that  chain  exact,  logical  and  con- 
vincing. 


CHAPTER  V 
Selling  a  Line 

BY  J.  HARRY  SELZ 

2'rsasurer,  Selz,  Schwab  $  Company 

The  sale  of  a  case  of  shoes,  under  the  stress  of  modem 
competition,  goes  through  a  perfect  scientific  process. 

One  sale  is  made  by  the  'Three  C'  method.  This 
method  includes  the  planting  of  three  germs :  First,  the 
germ  of  curiosity;  second,  the  germ  of  confidence;  and 
third,  the  germ  of  concentration.  This  forms  the  basis 
upon  which  the  sale  is  made. 

Originally,  the  salesman  was  just  given  his  line,  after 
a  bare  knowledge  of  what  it  was,  and  told  to  go  into 
his  territory  and  get  the  business.  Now  it  is  all  changed 
— the  mind  of  the  customer  is  worked  upon  with  as 
much  delicacy  as  though  he  were  being  persuaded  to 
occupy  a  position  to  which  he  had  long  been  opposed. 

The  salesman  forwards  to  the  house  every  night  his 
daily  report  (Form  I),  on  which  are  indicated  "pros- 
pects." These  must  include  the  best  shoe  firm  in  each 
town. 

At  this  point,  the  day  after  Mr.  J.  V.  Smith's  name 
is  sent  in.  the  rnakinsr  of  the  sale  begins.  The  prospect's 
name  is  at  once  entered  in  the  prospect  file  (Form  II) 
and  a  series  of  "promotion  letters"  are  sent  out  by 

99 


34  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

the  department  of  publicity.  These  include  a  half  dozen 
or  more,  depending,  of  course,  on  the  circumstances;  it 
is  usually  the  case  that  a  good  many  letters  have  to  be 
sent  before  Mr.  Smith  is  ready  for  a  visit  of  the  sales- 
man. 

Arousing  Interest  in  the  Customer  liy  Planting  the 

Germ  of  Curiosity 

These  letters  are  designed  to  work  up  by  cumulative 
power  an  interest  in  our  house  and  our  goods.  It  is 
planting  the  germ  of  curiosity — the  germ  by  which  it 
is  intended  to  develop  Mr.  Smith  from  a  prospect  to  an 
actual  buyer  of  shoes  and  from  a  buyer  to  a  life-long 
customer ;  and  the  principal  means  used  is  straight  from 
the  shoulder  argument. 

We  aim  to  do  more  than  attract  his  attention;  we 
want  to  get  him  in  an  argumentative  state,  to  consider 
the  difference  between  our  house  and  some  other  house. 
This  is  the  first  impression.  The  second  impression  is 
to  get  his  mind  more  keenly  awakened  to  this  difference. 
And  the  next,  and  perhaps  the  last  impression,  is  to  get 
him  to  see  by  the  letters  that  the  difference  is  in  favor  of 
the  former.  Thus,  we  plant  the  germ  of  curiosity. 

Usually  these  letters,  varying  always,  never  fail  to 
get  the  prospect  sufficiently  curious  to  bring  about  cor- 
respondence and  eventually  to  look  for  the  visit  of  the 
salesman. 

After  Mr.  Smith  has  reached  the  inspection  period 
the  salesman  visits  him  informally.  There  are  two  ways 
of  calling  on  the  man ;  to  open  the  line  at  the  hotel,  or 
to  take  a  grip  full  of  samples  to  his  store.  The  latter 
method  ought  to  be  followed  in  making  the  first  call, 
while  the  former  is  followed  in  making  the  succeeding 
calls.  The  salesman  always — this  is  an  invariable  rule 


SELLING  A  LINE  35 

— takes  in  his  grip  nothing  but  what  Mr.  Smith  may  be 
interested  in,  as  revealed  by  the  series  of  letters,  or 
that  which  the  salesman  can  do  better  on  than  some 
other  house.  This  is  done  for  the  main  purpose  of 
securing  an  immediate  point  of  contact  and  not  con- 
fusing his  mind — for  his  attention  has  previously  beem 
called  to  certain  grades  or  styles  of  shoes;  and  to  show 
him  something  else  might  confuse  him. 

As  the  salesman  enters  Mr.  Smith's  store  he  carries 
the  particular  shoe  or  style  which  Mr.  Smith  may  have 
referred  to  in  his  letter.  After  the  usual  salutation 
and  brief  reference  to  a  prior  letter  he  will  speak  of  the 
quality  and  wear  of  the  shoe — the  one  particular  brand 
of  shoe  that  Mr.  Smith  has  shown  a  preference  for.  The 
salesman  makes  no  excursion  to  other  fields  until  he  has 
exhausted  this  one  shoe.  And  this  one  shoe  he  never 
fails  to  have  in  his  hand.  Those  in  his  sample  case  are 
the  ones  on  which  the  excursion  can  be  made.  Thus  Mr. 
Smith  is  made  acquainted  with  the  shoe  he  has  shown 
a  liking  for. 

Comparison  the  Strong  Point  in  Demonstrating 
Shoe  Value  to  the  Buyer 

The  next  step  is  to  further  convince  him  by  com- 
parison. Comparison  must  be  skillfully  drawn.  The 
aim  is  to  further  demonstrate  the  difference  between 
the  shoes  of  this  house  and  those  of  some  other.  So  the 
particular  grade  of  shoe  that  Mr.  Smith  seems  to  have 
liked  is  placed  at  once  on  comparison.  To  the  strong 
salesman  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  trace  with  the  eye  on 
the  shelves  of  Mr.  Smith's  store  a  shoe  which  resembles 
the  shoe  in  question.  The  two  are  placed  side  by  side. 
The  lining  of  the  shoe  carried  by  the  salesman  is  shown 
either  to  be  better  in  quality,  or  better  stitcher!,  or  raore 


36 


HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 


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SELLING  A  LINE  37 

durable,  or  the  sole  and  upper  to  be  of  a  better  grade 
of  leather,  or  more  carefully  put  together,  than  the  other 
shoe.  There  will  always  be  some  distinctive  feature 
whereby  a  superiority  can  be  claimed  for  our  shoe. 
When  Mr.  Smith  has  got  this  firmly  fixed  in  his  mind 
there  is  secured  the  first  foothold. 

Next  comes  the  implanting  of  the  germ  of  confidence. 
It  is  not  enough  to  interest  the  buyer  in  the  shoe  and 
show  its  value  to  him;  he  must  interest  the  retailer  in 
the  house,  and  prove  its  value  to  him.  Here  the  adver- 
tising question  enters  into  the  sale.  Rarely  does  a 
country  merchant  buy  a  bill  of  shoes  unless  he  is  con- 
vinced that  the  line  will  be  thoroughly  advertised.  He 
wants  to  feel  that  we  will  do  more  for  him  in  this  respect 
than  the  other  fellows.  So  Mr.  Smith  is  given  full  in- 
formation regarding  the  advertising  which  the  house  is 
doing  in  a  general  way  and  he  is  also  posted  on  the 
special  advertising  which  we  are  willing  to  do  for  him. 
This  consists  of  a  great  variety  of  outdoor  signs,  store 
signs,  indoor  advertising  of  various  sorts;  and  he  is  en- 
couraged to  co-operate  in  his  own  advertising  with  the 
work  we  do  in  general  and  for  him  in  particular. 

Here  he  feels  that  the  house  will  stand  by  him  not 
only  in  this  respect,  but  in  others  as  well — "for,'  he 
says  to  himself,  "a  concern  which  will  do  so  much  to 
get  my  trade  and  then  spend  money  to  build  it  up,  will 
surely  stand  by  me."  And  with  this  feeling  the  ordi- 
nary notion  of  l '  Oh,  he  is  trying  to  get  my  money, ' '  is 
at  once  dissipated. 

Co-operating  with  the  Dealer  in  the  Preparation 

of  Advertising  ~ 

We  further  co-operate  with  our  customers  in  ths 
preparation  of  good  advertising  matter  which  he  may 


38  HOW   TO  M  A  KF,   THE   SALE 

send  to  Ms  own  customers.  This  advertising  matter  is 
designed  to  create  an  interest  in  the  goods  in  the  mind 
of  the  customer,  and  to  establish  the  fact  that  Smith 
sells  them.  In  fact  all  the  advertising  we  do,  either  in 
a  general  way,  by  painted  signs  or  conspicuous  walls  or 
bulletin  boards,  by  newspapers,  and  by  the  work  done 
in  direct  co-operation  with  a  customer,  is  intended  to 
"play  into  his  hands.'  TVe  realize  fully  that  our  in- 
terests are  best  served  by  serving  his. 

On  each  sample  shown  is  a  small  tag  addressed  to  the 
wearer  of  the  shoe.  This  tag  is  intended  primarily  to 
gain  his  confidence  through  an  obvious  appeal  to  the 
wearer.  The  moment  Mr.  Smith  sees  the  tag  he  feels 
at  once  that  the  house  is  trying  to  do  the  right  thing  by 
the  person  who  buys  the  shoes,  and  this  being  so  he  will 
do  the  same  by  him.  On  the  reverse  side  of  the  tag  the 
following  paragraph  appears: 

"Be  as  honest  with  the  shoes  as  they  are  with  you; 
then  if  they  go  wrong  we  will  make  them  right.  We 
expect  to  pay  for  any  mistakes  we  make.' 

In  this  little  tag  we  offer  our  customer  what  amounts 
to  a  guaranty  to  the  wearer  that  the  shoe  to  which  it  is 
attached  will  prove  as  good  a  shoe  as  the  money  will 
buy:  and  it  is  an  agreement  to  make  good  anv  shoe 

•.  l —  C—  v 

which  does  not  come  up  to  this  standard.  This  goes  far 
to  demonstrate  to  the  dealer  and  to  his  trade  that  they 
may  safely  put  confidence  in  us  and  in  our  goods. 

The  argrument  is  constantlv  advanced  that  "we  look 

V 

to  a  man's  foot  instead  of  his  eye.'  In  selling  to  coun- 
try customers  this  argument  carries  weight.  And  it  ia 
one  of  the  best  arguments  in  making  a  sale. 

In  this  connection  the  element  of  competition  comes 
up.  Mr.  Smith  will  make  reference  to  the  fact  that  he 
has  had  the  same  offer  from  other  houses  and  that  their 


SELLING  A  LINE  39 


PROMOTION  CARD 


TOWN       <~~  STATE      -V,/"    -  SALESMAN,,    _, 

'  j->*s  ^T^-  __  -l_^,«..*^s-  _  ^-i->  • 


-NAME 


Form  II:  Promotion  card  made  out  and  filed  in  the  home  office  for  each  prospect 
whose  name  is  sent  in  by  a  salesman.     Space  permits  of  a  subsequent  record 

of  his  dealings  with  the  house 

shoes  look  just  as  good.  But  the  general  make-up  of 
the  line  of  shoes,  the  advertising  campaign  carried  on, 
and  the  impression  formed  by  the  series  of  letters, 
generally  make  it  unnecessary  to  say  much  about  other 
lines.  He  is  left  to  draw  his  own  conclusions,  depend- 
ing entirely  on  the  first  impressions  made. 

Showing  tlie  Dealer  the  Advantages  of  Handling 

a  Line 

The  germ  of  concentration  follows  next  in  the  process. 
If  Mr.  Smith  can  be  made  to  feel  that  it  is  money  saved 
to  buy  his  shoes  from  one  house  instead  of  going  from 
one  house  to  another,  the  prospects  of  making  the  first 
sale  are  vastly  strengthened. 

A  line  ranging  from  men's  fine  dress  shoes  to  heavy 
work  shoes,  from  women's  and  misses'  dress  shoes  and 
slippers  to  heavy  every-day  shoes,  and  from  infants' 
and  children's  shoes  to  schoolboys'  and  rubbers,  is  held 
out  to  Mr.  Smith  as  representing  the  complete  stock. 


40  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

For  concentrating  his  purchase  we  offer  additional  dis- 
counts, larger  advertising,  quicker  service,  special 
brands,  and  personal  attention  to  the  wants  of  his  cus- 
tomers. 

The  germ  of  curiosity  then  has  succeeded  in  getting 
the  salesman  into  Mr.  Smith's  store  with  a  line  of  sam- 
ples suggested  by  the  promotion  letters.  The  germ  of 
confidence  is  established  by  showing  just  what  the  shoes 
are,  by  comparison  and  what  the  house  will  do,  by  ad- 
vertising, to  assist  his  sales  and  to  draw  people  to  his 
store,  while  the  germ  of  concentration  has  been  planted 
deep  enough  for  all  practical  purposes.  This  accom- 
plishes the  sale. 

How  the  House  Endeavors  to  Make  a  Customer 

Permanent 

After  the  first  order  is  received,  how  does  Mr.  Smith 
become  a  permanent  customer?  If  the  house  allowed 
him  to  shift  for  himself  after  the  first  bill  of  goods  were 
in  his  store,  he  might  not  be  able  to  state  their  merits 
with  full  success.  So  it  is  necessary  that  certain  things 
be  done  to  hold  him  as  a  customer. 

And  in  doing  so  the  house  has  to  sell  the  shoe  twice — 
first,  to  Mr.  Smith;  then  to  his  customer.  It  is  always 
better  to  spend  one  dollar  out  of  a  possible  two-dollar 
selling  expense  to  get  the  shoes  out  of  the  retailer's  store 
than  the  whole  two  dollars  to  get  them  into  the  retailer's 
store.  And  this  means  a  campaign  of  general  adver- 
tising. In  this  respect  no  regard  is  taken  of  the  local 
community.  The  entire  country,  or  that  part  of  it 
which  is  our  territory,  is  thoroughly  covered  with  good 
advertising. 

We  use  a  large  list  of  newspapers  in  the  principa.1 
cities  in  our  territory ;  using  page  ads.  and  smaller  copy. 


SELLING  A  LINE  41 

Our  list  of  newspapers  is  being  extended  each  season. 
In  these  advertisements  the  one  central  idea  is  to  circu- 
late our  name.  This  is  repeated  so  much  that  people 
everywhere  become  acquainted  with  the  name.  And  in 
passing  different  stores  our  signs  and  store  advertise- 
ments are  so  plain  that  the  individual  gets  our  shoe 
pretty  well  fixed  in  his  mind.  Why,  then,  should  he  fail 
to  be  drawn  to  the  store  handling  the  shoes  1 

There  are  two  catalogues  issued  yearly  which  describe 
all  the  styles  in  shoes  and  rubbers.  These  are  sent  Mr, 
Smith,  and  are  supplemented  with  a  price  list  on  sea- 
sonable goods  issued  during  the  interim. 

A  monthly  letter  in  the  form  of  a  house  organ,  ' '  The 
Shoe  News,"  is  sent  Mr.  Smith  and  acquaints  him  with 
the  latest  doings  and  happenings  in  the  shoe  world. 

How  the  House  and  Salesman  Keep  in  Touch  with 

the  Dealer 

Peculiarly,  only  one  letter  of  thanks  is  sent  Mr.  Smith, 
and  that  on  the  receipt  of  his  first  order.  The  method 
of  getting  the  people  to  his  store,  or  the  selling  of  his 
shoes  for  him,  is  evidence  of  the  appreciation  or  at  least 
of  the  effort  to  do  the  right  thing  by  Mr.  Smith;  and 
he  perceives  this  instantly. 

The  advantage  of  being  an  exclusive  dealer  in  our 
shoes  is  given  Mr.  Smith,  provided  he  will  buy  enough 
shoes  to  make  it  worth  the  effort  to  build  up  his  trade. 

In  addition  to  the  advertising  efforts  directed  from 
the  house,  the  traveling  salesman  is  constantly  in  touch 
with  Mr.  Smith.  He  sees  that  every  piece  of  shoe 
information,  in  one  form  or  another,  is  sent  him;  he 
writes  him  at  certain  times  inquiring  if  there  is  anything 
he  can  do  for  him,  or  if  there  are  any  complaints  from 
his  trade,  or  if  any  fault  is  found  with  the  shoes.  There 


42  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

are  times  also  when  the  traveler  will  send  souvenirs  and 
the  like  to  Mr.  Smith  in  order  that  his  personal  interest 
may  be  sustained.  In  one  way  or  another  the  salesman 
is  in  touch  with  Mr.  Smith  from  the  time  he  left  his 
store  with  the  first  order. 

Everything  is  prepared  now  for  the  second  call.  The 
first  bill  of  goods  has  been  sold — largely  through  the 
efforts  of  the  house;  the  interest  of  Mr.  Smith  has  not 
been  allowed  to  flag;  the  salesman  has  shown  his  own 
personal  enthusiasm,  so  the  path  has  been  prepared  for 
the  second  visit.  And  when  he  makes  the  second  call 
Mr.  Smith  visits  him  at  his  hotel.  The  tide  has  turned. 
Instead  of  having  to  take  a  small  sample  case  to  his  store, 
Mr.  Smith  gladly  goes  to  the  sample  room,  where  a  com- 
plete line  is  on  display. 

And  in  this  way  he  is  made  a  permanent  customer. 
In  the  first  instance  curiosity,  confidence  and  concentra- 
tion have  germinated  sufficiently  to  make  the  sale.  The 
efforts  made  by  the  house  to  sell  the  goods  and  the  per- 
sonal interest  taken,  both  by  the  salesman  and  the  house, 
keep  these  germs  growing  with  the  one  result — a  lasting 
customer. 


Be  Brief 

WHEN  you  talk  to  a  man  in  his 
office,  make  your  sentences  the 
shortest  possible  distance  between  two 
points.  Remember  that  when  a  man's 
listening  he  is  not  telling  on  himself 
and  he  is  flattering  the  man  who  is. 

Alexander  H.  Revell. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Selling  to  the  User 

BY  F.  C.  GILBERT 

In  these  days  of  keen  competition  it  does  not  take  long 
for  the  news  to  travel  that  there  is  a  prospective  pur- 
chaser in  the  automobile  field. 

If  a  man  is  favorably  inclined  toward  the  purchase  of 
an  automobile  the  task  of  the  salesman  resolves  itself 
into  an  effort  to  convince  him  that  the  particular  car  the 
salesman  has  to  sell  is  the  proper  one  for  him  to  buy. 

To  sell  automobiles  requires  men  of  high  qualifications, 
as  the  class  of  people  who  are  purchasing  cars  at  the 
present  time  are  persons  of  means,  prominent  in  business 
or  social  circles,  and  usually  people  of  education  and 
refinement.  While  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  successful 
automobile  salesman  be  a  practical  mechanic,  those  who 
have  been  the  most  successful  have  had  either  a  mechan- 
ical education  or  a  natural  inclination  for  mechanics. 
The  average  person  possesses  a  surprising  amount  of  in- 
formation on  mechanical  subjects,  and  many  a  sale  has 
been  lost  because  the  buyer  has  been  better  posted  than 
the  salesman  himself. 

Prospective  purchasers  may  be  divided  into  three  mam 
classes:  First,  those  who  intend  to  purchase;  second, 
those  who  are  interested  in  a  general  way,  but  are  not 

43 


44  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

thinking  of  purchasing  at  the  present  time ;  third,  those 
who  have  the  means  to  buy,  but  are  apparently  indif- 
ferent to  the  sport. 

What  the  Salesman  First  Seeks  to  Learn  in  Handling 

His  Prospect 

We  will  suppose,  for  the  purpose  of  this  article,  that 
the  prospective  customer  has  expressed  an  interest  in  an 
automobile  and  desires  to  own  one. 

The  first  step  of  the  shrewd  salesman  is  to  find  out  all 
about  the  prospective  buyer,  his  personal  characteristics, 
his  likes  and  dislikes,  his  financial  ability  to  pay  for  a 
car  and  the  kind  of  vehicle  in  which  he  would  be  apt  to 
be  the  most  interested.  A  visit  is  then  made  to  the  pros- 
pective customer 'and  every  effort  is  put  forward  by  the 
salesman  to  get  the  first  demonstration,  if  possible.  As 
a  rule,  the  salesman  who  secures  the  first  interview  with 
a  customer  is  able  to  influence  him  strongly  in  his  favor, 
and  if  his  concern  is  prominent  and  responsible,  and  his 
car  a  good  one,  he  can  present  his  arguments  in  such  a 
manner  that  any  other  salesman  who  attempts  to  sell 
the  same  customer  will  be  put  on  the  defensive.  In  other 
words,  a  shrewd  salesman  can  induce  the  prospective 
buyer  to  unconsciously  accept  his  company  and  his  goods 
as  the  standard  by  which  any  competitors  who  may  ap- 
proach him  will  be  judged. 

Each  man  has  his  own  method  of  securing  business: 
hence,  a  plan  which  could  be  successfully  followed  by 
one  salesman  might  prove  a  failure  in  the  hands  of 
another.  The  general  method  given  here  has  been  fol- 
lowed with  success  by  many  salesmen. 

We  will  assume  that  the  salesman  learns  that  the 
prospective  purchaser  wants  a  machine  of  a  certain  class 
at  a  certain  price. 


SELLING  TO  THE  USER  45 

The  method  of  attack  depends  somewhat  on  the  grade 
of  goods  represented,  the  standing,  reputation  and  ex- 
perience of  the  company  and  of  its  car.  If  the  com- 
pany represented  by  the  salesman  is  an  old  and  well 
established  one,  the  salesman  has  the  strongest  of  argu- 
ments in  Iris  favor,  and  these  may  be  used  to  advantage. 
The  financial  responsibility  of  the  company,  its  liber- 
ality in  the  interpretation  of  the  guarantee,  the  nearness 
of  factory  to  the  buyer,  the  ability  of  a  local  agent  to 
care  for  repairs,  are  all  strong  arguments,  but  the  heart 
of  the  whole  matter  is  a  good  car  and  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  it  by  the  salesman  and  an  ability  to  place  this 
knowledge  before  the  customer  in  a  convincing  manner. 

The   Steps  by   which   the   Salesman  Presents   His 

Proposition 

We  will  assume  that  the  prospective  purchaser  has 
narrowed  his  choice  to  a  definite  number  of  makes,  among 
which  he  is  undecided,  and  we  will  assume  that  this 
prospective  customer  has  entered  the  salesroom  for  the 
purpose  of  inspecting  our  particular  product. 

First,  the  salesman  calls  the  customer's  attention  to 
the  superiorities  of  this  particular  make. 

Second,  and  incidentally,  he  calls  attention  to  the 
peculiarities  of  mechanisms  or  functions  which  other 
makes  claim  as  points  of  excellence,  but  which  in  many 
cases  are  mere  talking  points,  elaborated  for  the  purpose 
of  influencing  uninformed  customers. 

Unless  a  customer  is  already  well  posted  concerning 
automobiles  and  wants  information  only  on  definite  mat- 
ters, the  salesman  demonstrates  the  following  points  in 
his  machine  in  their  order : 

The  motor,  the  transmission,  the  control,  the  driving 
mechanism,  the  upholstering  and  finish. 


46  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

To  the  average  customer,  the  motor  is,  of  course,  of 
primary  importance.  This  is  the  point,  consequently, 
which  the  salesman  attacks  first. 

After  taking  off  the  hood  which  covers  the  motor,  he 
explains  the  peculiar  construction  of  his  particular  make, 
which,  for  example,  may  embody  four  separate  cylinders, 
instead  of  sets  of  cylinders  constructed  in  pairs,  an  ar- 
rangement which  is  characteristic  of  many  machines  on 
the  market.  He  then  explains  why  this  construction  is 
held  by  his  firm  to  be  superior.  In  the  first  place,  it  al- 
lows the  water  to  circulate  freely  around  the  entire 
cylinder,  instead  of  two-thirds  of  the  way  around,  as  it 
does  in  the  cylinders  constructed  in  pairs.  This  is  a 
point  of  superiority  because  such  a  construction  allows 
a  uniform  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  cylinders, 
owing  to  the  uniform  distribution  of  the  water  supply. 

In  the  second  place,  this  construction  allows  for  five 
instead  of  three  crank  shaft  bearings — an  advantage 
which  even  the  layman  may  appreciate. 

In  the  third  place,  the  jacket  of  the  cylinder  wheels 
is  made  of  copper.  The  salesman  goes  on  to  emphasize 
the  advantage  of  this. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  valves  are  operated  automati- 
cally, instead  of  mechanically.  Its  superiority  is  ex- 
plained. 

In  like  manner  the  other  points  are  explained,  and  ex- 
plained in  such  a  way  that  will  show  the  why,  how  and 
because  of  each  point. 

Salesman  Explains  Carefully  the  Car's  Technical 

Points  of  Advantage 

The  next  function  to  explain  to  the  prospective  cus- 
tomer is  the  method  of  power  transmission.  As  prac- 
tically all  motor  cars  are  constructed  alike,  as  far  as  this 


SELLING  TO  THE  USER  47 

transmission  is  concerned — namely,  by  means  of  sliding 
gears — this  point  resolves  itself  into  a  matter  of  satis- 
fying the  customer  as  to  the  material  and  workmanship 
used  in  its  construction.  Specific  details  are  shown  and 
explained;  generalities  do  not  impress  the  careful  in- 
vestigator. 

The  next  feature  to  take  up  is  the  control  of  the  par- 
ticular machine.  It  is  distinguished  by  a  mechanism 
which  is  similar  in  results  to  the  control  of  a  railway 
locomotive.  The  speed  of  a  locomotive  is  controlled  by 
admitting  more  or  less  steam  through  a  throttle.  The 
mechanism  of  his  car  is  explained  and  its  distinguishing 
points  brought  out. 

The  fourth  feature  is  the  "driving.'  The  driving  is 
the  mode  of  transmission  of  power  to  the  rear  wheels. 
The  same  detailed  explanation  follows. 

The  fifth  and  final  feature  to  be  taken  up  in  the  de- 
monstration of  a  motor  car  is  the  finish.  But  unless  a 
prospective  customer  is  particularly  inexperienced  or  de- 
sires a  machine  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  display, 
this  point  is  not  of  marked  importance  and  is  last  to  be 
touched  upon. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  throughout  the  entire  demon- 
stration the  peculiar  mechanism  of  the  product  is  ex- 
plained on  the  following  basis: 

First,  the  customer  is  impressed  with  the  necessity  of 
the  functions  which  a  motor  car's  mechanism  must  per- 
form. 

Second,  the  customer  is  impressed  with  the  complete- 
ness with  wkich  this  particular  motor  car's  mechanism 
performs  these  functions. 

Third,  the  customer  is  shown  why  the  functions  thus 
performed  by  this  particular  make  of  cars  are  the  funda- 
mental functions  and  that  features  which  are  not  em- 


18  HOW  TO  MAKE  THE  SALE 

bodied  in  these  ears,  but  which  are  claimed  for  compet- 
ing makes,  are  either  unnecessary  or  even  weakening  to 
more  important  functions. 

After  the  arguments  have  been  presented,  the  customer 
usually  requires  a  road  demonstration  to  learn  for  him- 
self whether  the  car  will  come  up  to  the  claims  that  are 
made  for  it. 

If  the  demonstration  is  successful  and  the  customer  is 
pleased,  an  effort  is  made  to  clinch  the  sale  before  the 
customer's  enthusiasm  has  a  chance  to  cool  off.  A  cash 
deposit  of  part  of  the  retail  price  is  usually  insisted  upon 
as  a  provision  against  cancelation  of  the  order  and  as  an 
evidence  of  good  faith.  The  balance  on  the  car  is  paid 
on  delivery 


The  Selling  Foundation 


IVE  me  a  man  with  a  good  back 
"  bone,  susceptible  to  instruction, 
willing  to  absorb,  and  with  a  disposi- 
tion to  obey  orders,  and  I  will  assume 
the  responsibility  of  his  becoming  a 
good  salesman.  It  is  true  that  he  must 
have  a  foundation  upon  which  to  build. 
I  will  call  the  stones  of  that  foundation 
intelligence,  education,  appearance, 
persistence,  self-control,  and  diplom- 
acy. None  of  these  is  a  gift,  but  an 
accomplishment  that  can  be  developed 
more  or  less,  according  to  the  individ- 
ual. W.  A.  Waterbury. 


Part  III 


HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE 

BUYER 


HANDLING  THE 
BUYER 


GETTING  PAST 
THE:   GUARD 


ANSWERING 
OBJECTIONS 


CLOSING  THE 
SALE 


GETTING  PROSPECTS  VIEWS 


GIVING  OBJECTIONS 
TRIVIAL  APPEARANCE 


MAKING  STRONG  POINTS 
OUTWEIGH  WEAK  ONES 


ANTICIPATING  OBJECTIONS 


TURNING  COMPETITOR'S 
CRITICISMS  TO  ADVANTAGE 


SHOWING  DELAY  MEANS 
, MONEY  LOSS 


ADHERING  TO  FIXED    PRICE 


RECOGNIZING  THE 
PSYCHOLOGICAL  MOMENT 


SETTING  THE  SIGNATURE 


GETTING  A  CASH   DEPOSIT- 


SOLICITING  INFORMATION 
REGARDING  OTHER  PROSPECTS 


Here  are  presented  in  analyzed  form  the  points  that  make  greatest  demand 
on  the  salesman  in  handling  his  customer 


Know  Your  Ground 

Before  you  make  any  man  a  proposition, 
be  sure  of  your  course,  the  end  you  desire 
to  reach.  Know  yourself,  know  your 
goods,  know  your  man. 

No  friendly  wind  is  going  to  pilot  your 
ship  into  the  port  of  profit.  You  must 
map  out  your  entire  business  voyage  be- 
fore you  lift  the  anchor  of  initiative  or  set 
the  sail  of  action. 

It  is  the  minute  of  talk  after  the  hour 
of  thought,  the  ounce  of  effort  after  the 
ton  of  preparation,  that  steers  a  business 
project  into  the  harbor  of  success. 

Before  you  step — look  ahead.  Before  you 
fire — aim.  Before  you  act— plan. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Getting  Past  the  Outpost 

The  biggest  fish  always  get  away — in  the  camp  fire 
narratives  of  Isaac  Walton's  clan.  But  it  is  one  of  the 
compensations  of  a  salesman's  career — strenuous,  every- 
day sport  it  is — that,  once  he  takes  your  bait,  the 
big  man  is  as  handily  brought  to  the  landing  net  as  the 
fellow  who  will  never  figure  in  c '  Who 's  Who. ' 

Once  he  takes  your  bait,  I  say.  There  shows  the  big- 
gest difficulty — the  problem.  The  wary  old  trout  at  the 
bottom  of  a  shotgun  guarded  pool  is  more  easily  reached 
and  enticed  than  the  big  man  in  business  or  profes- 
sional life.  Money-captain,  railroad  general,  specialist 
in  law  or  medicine,  he  is  so  hedged  about  with  defences 
that  the  task  of  getting  speech  with  him  becomes  a  battle 
of  wits  against  clerks,  secretaries,  assistants,  hired  to 
insure  his  working  hours  against  interruptions.  In  no 
other  occupation  is  the  game  so  keen  and  close,  does 
knowledge  of  men  and  instant  judgment  count  for  so 
much,  are  victory  and  defeat  divided  by  a  line  so  nearly 
intangible. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  one  of  a  crew  of  canvassers 
selling  an  important  dictionary  in  conjunction  with  a 
Chicago  newspaper.  Five  of  our  younger  solicitors  had 
broken  themselves  on  the  office  fortifications  of  Presi- 


51 


52     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

dent  E.  P.  Ripley  of  the  Santa  Fe  road,  reporting  that 
it  was  impossible  to  break  in  on  him. 

Now,  "impossible' '  is  a  word  that  shatters  discipline 
in  a  company  of  canvassers,  and  the  crew  manager  as- 
signed me  to  the  task  of  selling  Mr.  Ripley  and  showing 
the  younger  men  their  mistake.  Besides  the  lesson  for 
the  crew,  we  wanted  Mr.  Ripley 's  subscription  and  com- 
mendation to  use  as  an  advertisement  and  selling  point. 

Locating  the  Prospect — The  First  Step  in  Getting 

Next  to  a  Big  Man 

When  I  marched  into  the  outer  office,  my  first  move 
was  to  make  sure  that  my  big  man  was  inside.  I  had 
only  this  one  chance  to  land  him — and  it  would  be  fatal 
to  my  plan  to  ask  if  Mr.  Ripley  was  in.  So  I  busied  my- 
self with  some  memoranda  as  I  entered,  and,  turning  my 
back,  pretended  to  add  up  a  column  of  figures  while  I 
listened  to  the  talk  of  the  clerks  and  the  other  visitors. 

In  a  minute  I  had  my  cue.  Mr.  Ripley  was  in.  A 
railing  divided  the  outer  office.  One  of  the  two  clerks 
was  seated  at  the  desk  beside  it.  The  other  was  talking 
to  three  railroad  men — probably  a  committee — across  the 
railing. 

Pocketing  my  memoranda,  I  stepped  quickly  to  the 
gate.  The  clerk  rose,  inquiry  in  his  eye.  I  thrust  out 
my  hand.  He  met  it  automatically. 

* '  Why,  hello,  old  man ! '  I  said,  cordially  as  I  knew 
how.  "You're  looking  better  than  you  did  last  time  I 
was  up.'  As  we  shook  hands  I  threw  up  the  bolt  of  the 
gate  and  stepped  inside. 

My  clerk  was  puzzled.  He  had  never  seen  me  before, 
but  he  didn't  know  it.  He  feared  to  make  a  mistake. 
And  while  he  shuffled  the  photographs  in  his  mind's 
gallery  he  was  at  my  mercy.  There  had  been  a  little 


GETTING  PAST  THE  OUTPOST  53 

story  of  new  Santa  Fe  extensions  in  the  morning  papers. 
I  talked  lightly  of  them  as  I  edged  toward  the  open  door 
of  the  second  office. 

The  other  clerk  bore  down  on  us.  I  met  him  with  a 
smile  and  the  same  compelling  motion  of  my  right  hand. 
He,  too,  was  at  a  loss.  I  knew  him,  I  was  glad  to  see 
him,  but  he  couldn  't  identify  me.  The  advantage  was  al] 
mine. 

I  brought  him  into  the  gossip  about  the  road  while 
we  shook  hands.  Then  while  the  problem  of  placing 
me  still  engrossed  them,  I  turned  toward  the  inner 
room. 

"I'll  be  out  in  a  minute,"  I  called  gaily.  Their 
momentary  hesitation  put  me  beyond  their  reach. 

Working  a  Ruse  to  Get  Past  the  Prospect's 

Guard 

The  man  in  the  second  office  was  busy  with  a  filing 
case  in  the  farthest  corner.  I  nodded  to  him  with  a 
smile  and  steered  straight  for  the  door  leading  to  the 

^w 

office  at  right  angles.  He  was  too  far  away  to  cut  me 
off — and  my  friendly  greeting  paralyzed  his  brain  for 
that  one  vital  moment  I  needed.  The  door  was  open. 
I  saw  a  young  man  at  the  central  desk.  Mr.  Ripley's 
private  office  must  be  beyond,  and  this  was  his  per- 
sonal secretary. 

1  'Hello!"  I  said,  "E.  P.'s  in.  I've  a  letter  he'll  want 
to  see.  I'll  just  hand  it  to  him.' 

In  another  moment  I  had  penetrated  the  citadel.  The 
secretary  was  as  powerless  to  stop  me  as  the  men  outside. 

Mr.  Kipley  looked  up  prepared  to  listen.  His  outside 
men  were  efficient  and  the  fact  that  I  stood  there  was 
guarantee  that  my  business  was  important  and  for  his 
ear  alone. 


54     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

One  glance  and  I  had  my  line.  This  man's  natural 
dignity,  his  habit  of  command  forbade  even  an  approach 
to  equality.  There  is  subtle  flattery  in  admitting  with- 
out argument  another  man  's  superiority.  No  man  is  big 
enough  to  recognize  it  as  flattery  or  too  big  to  be  un- 
consciously influenced  by  it.  My  role  must  be  that  of  a 
messenger. 

"Mr. of  the  Morning ,"  I  said,  offer- 
ing the  letter,  "sent  me  down  to  ask  what  binding  you 
wanted  on  your  Universal  dictionary.' 

He  stared  at  me  in  surprise.  That  was  what  I 
wanted.  If  he  read  Mr.  's  letter — merely  intro- 
ductory as  it  was — it  would  take  ten  minutes  to  bring 
him  back  to  the  mood  I  found  him  in.  The  Universal 
had  been  extensively  advertised.  Mr.  Ripley,  I  knew, 
understood  that  no  other  dictionary  approached  it  in 
value  as  a  reference  work.  To  rehearse  my  talking  points 
would  be  to  tire  him  and  lose  the  sale. 

I  whipped  out  my  sample  bindings  and  laid  them  out 
before  him. 

"Mr.  Morton  got  a  good  deal  of  fun  out  of  choosing 
his  binding  the  other  day, ' '  I  remarked  in  casual  fashion. 
Mr.  Morton — since  secretary  of  the  navy  and  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Equitable  Life — was  vice-president  of  the 
Santa  Fe  at  the  time.  I  calculated  my  effect  in  mention- 
ing his  name,  but  omitted  to  point  out  the  binding  he 
had  selected. 

In  five  minutes  Mr.  Ripley  and  I  together  had  come 
to  a  pretty  clear  conception  of  the  Universal 's  merits. 
Then  I  switched  the  talk  back  to  the  bindings. 

"What  binding  did  Morton  take?"  he  finally  asked. 

That  settled  it.  In  three  minutes  more,  I  had  Mr. 
Ripley 's  check  for  the  same  binding  and  a  line  of  vig- 
orous approval  for  the  dictionary. 


GETTING  PAST  THE  OUTPOST  55 

Nothing  is  so  fatal  to  the  morale  of  a  canvassing  crew 
as  the  discovery  that  certain  men  can't  be  approached — 
much  less  sold.  The  old  stagers  learn  to  discount  such 
repulses,  but  the  youngsters  lose  heart  and  begin  to 
tackle  their  easiest  prospects  with  an  apology  in  their 
eyes.  The  only  way  to  break  up  a  "losing  streak >!'  like 
this  is  to  demonstrate  their  mistake  and  show  that  the 
captain  in  his  citadel  can  be  reached. 

The  Moral  Effect  of  Getting  Next  to  the  "Impossible' 

Man 

During  our  Universal  dictionary  canvass  of  Chicago 
this  ominous  "can't  be  seen';  had  been  checked  up 
against  the  name  of  one  of  the  most  noted  physician- 
surgeons  of  the  city.  Busy  doctors  are  always  hard  to 
see,  but  this  man  had  an  office  attendant  who  was  almost 
psychic  in  her  analysis  of  visitors'  errands:  At  one  of 
our  evening  "experience'  meetings,  the  erew  manager 

brought  up  Dr. 's  name  and  wanted  to  know  why 

we  had  fallen  down  on  him.  Six  men  who  had  failed  ex- 
plained the  ingenuity  and  decision  of  the  attendant.  She 
was  simply  unbeatable,  they  agreed. 

"Unbeatable,  eh?"  The  crew  manager  sniffed. 
"Here,  Blank," — he  thrust  the  doctor's  prospect  card  at 

me — "go  and  see  Dr.  tomorrow.  Bring  back  his 

order  or  his  name  on  this  card  to  teach  these  young 
gentlemen  that  any  man  alive  'can  be  seen.' 

The  reports  of  the  youngsters  satisfied  me  that  »« 
ordinary  approach  would  land  me  in  the  physician's 
inner  office.  I  would  have  to  bluff  my  way  past  the 
clairvoyant  attendant.  I  took  my  cue  from  the  doc- 
tor's penchant  for  surgery. 

There  were  a  dozen  women  waiting  in  the  reception 
room  whea  I  entered.  Quick  action  was  imperative. 


56     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

If  I  waited  my  turn,  the  girl  with  the  memorandum  pad 
would  learn  my  entire  pedigree,  back  to  Castle  Garden. 

"I  am  Mr.  Blank,"  I  told  her  quietly,  but  with  pre- 
tence of  hurry.  "Ask  Dr. if  he  will  see  me  for 

a  minute  about  that  operation." 

4 ' That  operation ? "  she  asked  with  poised  pencil. 

' '  He  '11  understand, ' '  I  assured  her,  ' '  I  'm  sorry  I  can 't 
wait,  and  I  ?11  only  take  a  minute. ' 

She  hesitated,  but  a  patient  came  out  of  the  inner 

office.  She  went  in.  Ten  seconds  later  Dr. was 

in  the  doorway,  trying  to  recall  me.  He  couldn't,  of 
course.  He  beckoned  me.  I  gave  his  hand  a  vigorous 
squeeze  as  we  crossed  the  threshold.  At  that  instant, 
even,  I  didn't  know  how  I  should  handle  him.  His  first 
word  might  give  me  my  clue. 

"That  operation?"  he  inquired,  briskly  professional. 
I  had  to  answer. 

"The  operation" — my  smile  was  as  ingenuous  as  I 
could  make  it — "by  which,  with  the  Standard's  help, 
you  amputate  five  dollars  a  month  from  your  bank  ac- 
count and  graft  the  Universal  dictionary  on  your 
library. ' 

For  five  seconds  he  bristled.  I  hung  on  to  my  smile. 
Then  the  saving  crinkles  appeared  at  the  corners  of  his 
eyes.  My  audacity  amused  him.  He  laughed.  He 
dropped  into  his  chair  so  hard  the  spring  broke.  I 
helped  him  up  and  brushed  him  off.  He  was  still 
laughing. 

"You're  the  seventh,  aren't  you?'    he  asked. 

"The  vital  number,"  I  suggested.  "You  know  all 
about  the  Universal.  You  know  you  need  it. ' 

"Not  to  find  the  definition  of  impudence,'  he  re- 
torted. But  he  took  my  pen  and  signed  the  order  slip. 

"How  much  now?"  he  asked. 


GETTING  PAST  THE  OUTPOST  57 

" Nine  dollars." 

He  gave  me  a  ten-dollar  bill.    I  pocketed  it. 

"They'd  expel  me  from  the  union  if  I  gave  you  back 
that  dollar,"  I  explained. 

He  laughed  again.  He  shook  hands  warmly  at  the 
door  and  the  attendant  looked  relieved.  The  crew  man- 
ager kept  that  order  on  the  bulletin  board  for  a  month — 
much,  I  fancy,  as  the  Romans  displayed  the  rostra  of 
captured  galleys  on  the  orator's  platform  in  the  Forum. 

Running  Down  the  Man  Who  Has  Authority 

to  Buy 

Most  exasperating  of  all  "prospects"  is  the  little-great 
man,  without  true  initiative,  that  salesmen  find  in  every 
large  corporation.  He  has  authority  but  is  too  timid  or 
too  lazy  to  use  it  until  he  has  sounded  the  men  "higher 
up ' '  and  learned  their  opinion.  Often  too,  he  dodges  de- 
cision altogether  rather  than  bring  up  the  matter  with 
his  superiors.  I  call  him  a  "shadow  of  a  great  man': 
because  he  is  as  fleeting,  as  hard  to  pin  down,  as  the 
shadow  that  walks  abroad  with  his  master. 

I  wasted  four  days  and  endless  patience  trying  to 
sell  a  mechanical  money-counter  to  officials  of  the  Elkins- 
Wardner  syndicate  for  use  by  their  various  street  rail- 
ways. Shunted  about  from  department  to  department 
until  I  grew  dizzy,  nowhere  could  I  find  a  man  who 
would  say  "yes"  or  "no"  to  my  machine.  I  rounded  on 
the  last  mani 

"This  thing  has  a  throne  somewhere,"  I  said.  "Who 
sits  on  it?" 

"Mr.  B ,"  he  answered,  "but  you  can't  see  him.' 

Couldn't  I?  The  great  man  had  one  secretary  guard- 
ing him.  It  was  easy  to  walk  in  on  him  when  the  secre- 
tary was  absent  or  on  an  errand. 


58     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

' '  I  could  save  your  companies  a  lot  of  money,  time  and 
labor,'  I  explained  as  he  looked  up,  "if  I  could  only 
find  some  man  to  do  business  with.  I've  talked  four 
days  to  your  high-priced  officials,  but  every  one  thinks 
a  decision  is  his  neighbor's  job.  I  didn't  come  here  to 

talk  sales  to  you,  Mr.  B ,  but  I  do  want  to  know 

who 's  who. ' 

He  grinned. 

"You  must  want  'em  to  spend  money,'1  he  said, 
"What  have  you  got?  Money  counters?'  He  thought 
an  instant.  "We  use  counting  boards.  Better  see  Mr. 
S at  ten  tomorrow.' 

Mr.  S had  not  returned  to  his  office  by  noon 

next  day.  He  was,  I  had  discovered,  a  protege  of  one 
of  the  big  men  in  the  combination.  But  an  appointment 
is  an  appointment. 

"Tell  Mr.  S ,"  I  warned  his  stenographer,  "that 

I  '11  be  here  at  ten  tomorrow  and  that  I  '11  expect  him  also 

to  be  here  to  talk  to  me.    If  he  isn't,  I'll  ask  Mr.  B 

what  business  he  has  to  make  engagements  for  his  em- 
ployees if  they  won't  keep  them.' 

Mr.    S 's   ten   o'clock   mood   wasn't  particularly 

amiable  next  day,  but  I  emphasized  the  fact  that  Mr. 

B —  had  referred  me  to  him  for  a  decision.    I  didn't 

let  him  know  that  Mr.  B had  not  seen  my  machine. 

Indeed,  he  already  had  the  impression  that  his  chief  was 
interested. 

' '  What  can  you  do  ?  "  he  asked. 

*  Give  me  a  bag  full  of  quarters,  nickels  or  dimes  and 
I'll  show  you.' 

The  coins  were  brought.  In  fifty-nine  seconds  the 
machine  completed  the  count.  Nine  hundred  and  ninety- 
nine — one  coin  was  thrown  out.  It  was  a  counterfeit, 
which  had  passed  the  syndicate's  cashiers. 


GETTING  PAST  THE  OUTPOST  59 

"I'll  have  to  think  this  matter  over,"  Mr.  S said 

after  I  had  put  the  machine  through  all  its  paces. 
"Come  in  tomorrow.' 

S was  the  type  of  man  who  prides  himself  on  his 

decision.  He  wouldn't  want  the  chief  to  know  that  he 
would  hesitate  over  the  adoption  of  a  machine  which  had 
made  good  as  my  counter  had.  I  acted  on  that  as- 
sumption. 

"I've  spent  five  days  here  already,"  I  reminded  him. 
"If  you  can't  give  me  a  trial  order  for  five  machines 
without  further  delay,  I'll  be  obliged  to  go  up  to  Mr. 
B and  ask  him  for  the  order. ' 

My  reading  of  his  character  was  correct.  He  weak- 
ened; sent  for  bags  of  nickels,  dimes  and  pennies  for 
another  trial — to  save  his  face.  The  machine  counted 
them  without  slip. 

"I  guess  we'll  try  five,"  he  conceded  and  reached  for 
my  fountain  pern, 


i 


Look  Ahead 

BELIEVE  in  knowing  just  what  I 
am  doing  and  where  I  hope  to  land . 
I  always  strive  to  make  others  strive 
for  something  a  little  farther  ahead,  but 
I  always  know  the  exact  point  which  I 
hope  to  attain,  and  I  have  figured  out 
the  steps  I  must  take  to  reach  that 
point.  Walter  H.  Cottingham. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Answering  Objections 

BY  W.  A.  WATERBURY 

Sales  Manager,  A.  B.  Dick  Company 

No  salesman  should  go  into  the  field  expecting  &o  make 
a  success  of  selling  any  article  unless  he  feels  himself 
competent  to  defend  it  and  meet  the  objections  that  are 
sure  to  be  raised  against  it.  For  the  prospective  cus- 
tomer's best  rebuff — his  surest  attack  upon  the  sales- 
man's argument  is  a  strong  objection.  If  the  salesman 
can  meet  it  immediately  and  effectively  he  has  gained  a 
strong  point,  but  if  he  hesitates  or  falls  down  entirely, 
the  chances  are  that  he  will  lose  every  inch  of  advantage 
he  has  previously  gained. 

To  the  salesman  who  is  prepared,  an  objection  is  al 
'vays  a  welcome  opening,  for  it  gives  him  an  insight 
into  the  prospect's  line  of  thought  and  enables  the  sales- 
man to  meet  him  on  his  own  ground. 

Although  salesmen  sometimes  attempt  it,  I  think  it 
is  a  mistake  to  ignore  any  objection  raised  by  a  pros- 
pect. In  the  first  place  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  do, 
for  most  business  men  are  shrewd  enough  to  recognize 
any  such  evasion  as  a  weakness  in  the  salesman 's  propo- 
sition. It  is  far  better  to  clear  up  every  point  as  it  is 
raised  and  defend  your  goods  to  the  last  ditch. 

60 


ANSWERING  OBJECTIONS  61 

I  believe  the  best  policy  to  follow  in  handling  objec- 
tions is  to  show  yourself  always  perfectly  willing  to 
discuss  them,  but  to  make  them  in  each  case  appear  as 
trivial  as  possible,  leading  back  to  the  strong  points  and 
making  them  overweigh  any  possible  weak  ones. 

If  an  objection  is  raised  to  which  you  know  you  can 
make  reply,  do  not  hesitate  for  a  minute  to  clear  up  the 
situation— in  fact,  it  is  best  to  give  the  prospective  cus- 
tomer the  impression  that  the  point  is  one  that  you 
simply  had  not  yet  come  to  in  your  sales  argument. 

Knowledge  of  Goods  an  Absolute  Essential  to  Tieady 
Meeting  of  Objections 

Know  your  goods  so  well  and  be  so  sure  of  your  posi- 
tion that  for  every  objection  made  you  can  simply  say : 
"I  am  glad  you  brought  this  up  at  this  point — I  see  you 
are  following  closely  and  I  like  to  meet  a  man  who  is 
sufficiently  interested  to  think  for  himself.  Now,  one 
special  feature  of  our  proposition  will  commend  itself 
to  you  in  this  very  particular. ' 

A  favorite  scheme  of  prospects  is  to  bring  up  the  good 
points  of  rival  products.  Often  this  is  for  no  other 
reason  than  to  start  the  salesman  in  an  attack  upon  his 
competitors — a  thing  which,  if  he  is  wise,  he  will  avoid 
whenever  possible.  Every  salesman  should  aim  to  be  as 
well  posted  on  the  points  of  other  products  as  on  his 
own,  so  that  when  compelled  to  defend  his  goods  in  a 
comparison  he  will  be  qualified  to  do  so,  but  he  should 
never  enter  into  such  a  discussion  unless  he  is  forced 
into  it  by  the  persistency  of  the  prospect. 

The  salesman's  best  training  for  answering  objections 
he  can  obtain  only  from  his  own  work.  Each  day  dur- 
ing his  first  experience  in  handling  an  article,  he  is  con- 
fronted with  some  new  obstacle.  The  first  time  he  meets 


62     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYEE 

it  lie  must  answer  it  extemporaneously,  from  his  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  his  product.  But  he  at  once  sets 
about  to  fortify  himself  so  thoroughly  on  that  particular 
point  that  when  it  next  arises  he  will  have  every  possible 
answer  to  it  at  his  tongue's  end. 

In  time,  through  his  own  experience  and  the  inter- 
change of  ideas  with  other  salesmen  in  his  line,  he  will 
have  become  familiar  with  practically  every  objection 
he  will  be  called  upon  to  meet  and  also  with  the  most 
effective  way  of  answering  them,  and  turning  them  to 
his  own  benefit. 

But  the  greatest  advantage  of  knowing  the  objections 
in  advance  is  that  it  enables  the  salesman  to  anticipate 
them.  Knowing  exactly  the  points  arising  in  the  pros- 
pect's mind,  he  can  sweep  them  aside  at  the  very  begin- 
ning of  his  argument,  leaving  a  firm  foundation  on 
which  to  go  ahead  with  his  constructive  talk. 

Disarming  the  Prospect's  Opposition  by  Anticipating 

His  Objections 

Thus  a  salesman  introducing  a  new  book  on  business 
or  a  new  office  system,  knows  that  three  out  of  four  men 
will  maintain  that  they  do  not  need  it  because  they 
know  how  to  run  their  own  business  and  have  prospered 
for  years  without  such  assistance.  Anticipating  this, 
the  salesman  in  his  introductory  talk  shatters  the  objec- 
tion before  it  is  brought  up  by  saying: 

"Now  I  want  to  say  in  the  very  beginning,  Mr.  Brown, 
that  I  do  not  come  here  with  any  attempt  to  tell  you 
how  to  run  your  business;  I  can't  do  it.  I  don't  be- 
lieve anybody  else  can.  You  are  the  man  who  under- 
stands most  perfectly  the  conditions  of  your  business; 
therefore  you,  yourself,  are  most  capable  of  devising 
methods  to  meet  those  conditions. 


ANSWERING  OBJECTIONS  63 

"But  we  do  believe  that  you  or  any  other  business 
man  develops  his  operating  plans  easier,  quicker  and 
better  if  he  can  draw  upon  the  practical  ideas  and  ex- 
periences of  other  concerns/ 

This  disarms  the  prospect  of  his  most  personal  objec- 
tion and  at  the  same  time  constitutes  an  excellent  intro- 
duction to  his  actual  proposition. 

One  thing  to  remember  is  that  while  most  business 
men  are  shrewd  enough  to  recognize  readily  the  advan- 
tages of  an  article,  the  average  prospect  wants  things  sim- 
ply explained.  His  comprehension  is  best  reached  by 
citing  illustrations  in  his  own  business,  drawing  apt 
metaphors  and  similes  he  will  quickly  understand.  Mair* 
times  there  is  no  more  effective  answer  to  an  objection 
than  an  anecdote  that  fits  the  case,  preferably  draws 
from  an  experience  with  another  ""ealer  in  the  prospect's 
own  line. 

Salesman  Must  Use  His  Own  Judgment  in  Each 

Individual  Case 

Of  course,  the  salesman  must  learn  to  answer  each  ob- 
jection as  the  individual  circumstance  demands.  Some 
must  be  met  directly,  some  by  drawing  the  prospect's  at- 
tention to  other  selling  points  calculated  to  overcome 
his  reluctance.  At  times,  however,  an  apparently  un- 
answerable objection  can  be  turned  into  an  argument 
to  clinch  the  order. 

"I  had  a  big  St.  Louis  manufacturer  on  my  can- 
vassing list/'  said  a  salesman  who  was  selling  an  office 
appliance.  *I  found  him  approachable,  stirred  his  in- 
terest in  my  machine  and  got  away  with  the  promise  of 
a  definite  answer  the  following  week. 

"When  I  called  on  the  day  appointed,  I  felt  his  am- 
tagonism  when  he  acknowledged  my  'good  morning.'  He 


54  HOW  TO  HAJNuui^  THE  BUYER 

didn't  keep  me  in  doubt  as  to  the  reason,  but  handed 
me  a  late  issue  of  one  of  the  appliance  trade  jour- 
nals. Slashing  blue-pencil  lines  indicated  a  two-column 
attack  on  a  certain  alleged  defect  in  our  product.  The 
writer's  name  carried  no  weight,  but  his  treatment  was 
exhaustive.  He  even  made  bold  to  compare  the  article 
in  that  particular  detail  with  other  machines. 

"I  galloped  through  the  article  and  took  forty  seconds 
to  decide  what  I  should  do.  There  was  no  dodging  the 
issue.  I  must  meet  it. 

"  'That's  fine,'  I  said,  dropping  the  paper  carelessly 
on  his  desk.  '  That  strikes  me  as  about  the  best  advertise- 
mpnt  the  Peerless  has  received.  It's  a  pity  they  didn't 
run  that  article  in  some  paper  of  general  circulation. ' 

"  'How  do  you  make  that  out?'  he  demanded. 

"  'Why,  Mr.  Jones,  can't  you  see  that  article  cost 
somebody  a  dollar  a  line?'  I  pretended  astonishment 
myself.  'Let's  analyze  this  thing.  We're  selling  the 
Peerless  strictly  on  its  merits.  The  only  way  our  com- 
petitors can  block  sales  is  to  knock,  knock— keep  on 
knocking.  In  this  case  three  or  four  experts  in  different 
lines  spent  weeks  or  months  studying  our  machine  look- 
ing for  weak  spots  to  attack. 

"  'What  do  they  find?  With  all  their  labor,  they  dis- 
cover one  feature  in  two  hundred  with  which  to  find 
fault.  If  they  had  spotted  more  they  would  be  listed 
in  this  two-hundred-dollar  space  purchased  to  pourd 
the  Peerless.  I  don't  like  to  admit  that  some  concerns 
do  such  things,  Mr.  Jones,  but  I  must  leave  it  to  your 
business  sense  to  decide  whether  I'm  speaking  the  truth 
or  not — whether  this  paper  would  print  such  an  attack 
unless  it  were  paid  for,  every  line. ' 

"  'And  I'd  like  to  ask  you,  Mr.  Jones,' — I  knew  I  had 
him  all  but  convinced,  '  if  you  can  imagine  a  testi- 


ANSWERING  OBJECTIONS  65 

monial  stronger  than  this  criticism  of  the  Peerless  by 
its  enemies — one  point  in  two  hundred  to  which  they 
raise  objection.' 

"He  almost  apologized  as  he  wrote  the  check.  He 
gave  me  letters  of  introduction  to  several  friends,  and  I 
sold  four  other  machines  on  the  strength  of  them.' 

Showing  the  Prospect  that  a  Fixed  Price  Cannot  be 
Changed  Under  Any  Conditions 

Probably  the  point  on  which  more  objections  are  made 
than  any  other  is  the  matter  of  price.  If  you  have  a 
fixed  price  for  the  article  you  sell,  resolve  when  you 
enter  a  man's  office  that  you  will  name  that  price  when 
the  proper  point  in  the  sales  talk  comes  and  that  you 
will  stick  to  it.  Do  not  argue  the  matter,  and  what  is 
more,  give  the  prospect  to  understand  that  the  price  is 
one  point  that  you  can  not  debate.  Assure  him  of  the 
quality  of  the  article,  its  adaptability  to  his  require- 
ments and  the  service  that  you  can  give  in  the  matter 
of  delivery,  but  make  him  feel  that  the  price  is  some* 
thing  that  you — the  salesman— have  no  authority  to  alter 
under  any  circumstances. 

As  a  case  in  point,  I  recall  an  incident  told  me  by 
a  salesman  who  was  handling  a  well  known  standard 
dictionary.  "I  spent  three  months/1  he  said,  "coaxing 
a  Kansas  City  banker  to  buy  my  dictionary.  He  was 
cold  blooded,  analytical,  a  *  trader'  of  the  old-fashioned 
bargaining  sort,  but  he  appreciated  honesty  and  a  square 
deal.  I  finally  secured  his  interest  and  he  promised 
to  think  the  matter  over  and  asked  me  to  call  again. 

:<I  called — again — again — on  an  average  twice  or 
thrice  a  week  for  three  months.  Sometimes  he'd  give 
me  a  nod,  other  times  five  minutes'  talk,  but  nerer  an 
order.  Once  he  asked  the  net  cash  price— $84.05. 


66     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

"So  things  went  on  until  my  final  week  in  the  city. 
One  of  these  last  mornings  I  breezed  in  with  more  than 
my  usual  stock  of  confidence,  told  him  I  was  cleaning 
up  and  wanted  his  order.  He  went  out  to  the  cashier's 
desk  and  brought  back  a  bunch  of  bills.  He  counted  it 
— eighty  dollars — and  handed  it  to  me.  I  counted  it. 

"  'I'll  take  your  dictionary,'  he  said. 

'I'm  afraid  you've  made  a  mistake,  Mr.  Smith,'  I 
suggested,  'the  price  is  $84.05.' 

"  'That's  what  I'll  give,'  he  said.  'You  can  take  it 
or  leave  it.' 

' '  Of  course,  I  had  to  leave  it. 

"The  morning  I  quit  town,  I  determined  to  run  up 
and  have  another  try  at  Mr.  Smith.  I  told  him  I  was 
going. 

"  'My  only  regret,'  I  said,  'is  that  I  haven't  your  name 
on  my  Kansas  City  list.  I'm  rather  proud  of  that  list. 
There 's  still  time  to  add  your  name,  Mr.  Smith. ' 

"  'You  know  what  I  told  you,'  he  replied. 

"I  had  figured  out  long  before  that  he  was  honest 
and  liked  frankness.  It  was  just  the  trading  instinct 
that  kept  him  haggling  over  that  four-five. 

"  'Yes,  I  know  what  you  told  me,'  I  answered,  'and  I 
know  that  what  Mr.  James  E.  Smith  says  he  means.  If 
a  customer  comes  asking  an  accommodation,  you  tell 
him  right  away  what  you  can  do  and  stick  to  that  de- 
cision, because  it's  based  on  square  dealing  and  what 
experience  tells  you  is  safe  dealing.  You've  got  no 
sliding  scale  to  take  advantage  of  the  necessities  of  cus- 
tomers. It's  true,  isn't  it,  Mr.  Smith,  that  the  reputa- 
tion of  your  bank  has  been  built  on  this  principle?'1 

"  'It  is,'  he  assented. 

"  'The  paper  and  the  publishers  I  represent' — right 
here  I  warmed  up  in  earnest — 'have  built  up  reputa- 


ANSWERING  OBJECTIONS  67 

tions  of  their  own  by  strict  adherence  to  this  same  idea 
of  square  dealing.  When  I  quoted  $84.05,  as  the  price 
of  the  books,  it  was  as  final  as  your  decision  on  a  loan. 
If  you  will  tell  me,  Mr.  Smith,  that  you're  not  asking 
me  to  break  the  very  rule  which  has  made  yours  the 
biggest  national  bank  west  of  St.  Louis  and  Mr.  Smith 
its  head,  I'll  take  your  eighty  dollars.' 

"For  half  a  minute — a  long  time  under  such  circum- 
stances— he  was  silent.  Then  he  looked  up. 

' '  '  How  much  did  you  say  ? '  he  asked. 

"  'Eighty-four  dollars  and  five  cents,'  I  replied. 

"In  silence  he  filled  out  a  check  and  pushed  it  across 
the  table.  It  was  for  eighty-four  dollars  flat. 

"I  stood  up  and  laid  the  check  in  front  of  him. 
'Good-bye,  Mr.  Smith,'  I  said. 

"  'Do  you  mean  you  want  that  nickel?'  he  gasped. 

"  'Yes,'  I  declared,  'without  that  nickel  your  eighty- 
four  dollars  are  no  good.' 

"  'All  right,'  he  returned  with  a  grin.  He  dug  down 
into  his  trousers  pocket  and  brought  out  the  coin.  'I 
guess  your  blamed  dictionary  must  be  worth  the  price. ' 

No  salesman  in  meeting  his  prospect's  objections 
should  ever  lower  his  own  dignity  or  step  out  of  the 
position  he  assumes  when  he  enters  the  office.  If  your 
customer  maintains  that  he  is  over-stocked,  or  that  it 
is  too  late  or  too  early  to  buy,  don't  try  to  coax  him 
into  giving  you  an  order.  Back  up  every  request  for 
an  order  with  convincing  reason  why  he  ought  to  buy 
now. 

The  most  effective  argument  is  invariably  that  one 
which  shows  the  prospect  how  he  can  either  save  or 
make  money.  Base  your  talk  on  his  bank  account  and 
you  will  score  your  strongest  point.  Thus,  the  most 
effective  answer  to  his  plea  for  delay  is  a  clear  state- 


HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

ment  of  fact  and  figures  showing  him  that  delay  means 
loss  of  money.  If  he  has  admitted  the  quality  of  your 
goods,  has  recognized  them  as  a  money-maker,  then  he 
has  practically  admitted  that  every  day  he  puts  off 
buying  them,  he  deprives  himself  of  a  certain  profit. 
Impress  this  on  him  in  your  strongest  manner  and  con- 
centrate your  energies  at  the  same  time  on  sweeping 
away  clear  every  objection  he  has  thrown  around  your 
goods.  Then  get  his  signature.  Remember  that  you  are 
out  for  business,  not  promises,  and  that  his  "next  time" 
is  worth  nothing  compared  with  an  order  landed  now. 


The  Basis  of  Enthusiasm 

IT  is   selling  good  goods,    goods    in 
which  you  have  faith,  goods  that  you 
think  are  going  to  make  the  world  bet- 
ter— that  gives  the  whole  game  a  gist 
and  satisfaction. 

Here  is  the  thing  in  a  nutshell — merit 
begets  confidence,  confidence  begets 
enthusiasm,  and  enthusiasm  conquers 
the  world. 

Walter  H.  Cottingham. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Landing  the  Order 

Circumstances  are  tools  to  an  able  agent's  hand.  Big 
men  are  cast  in  individual  molds — therefore  attack  and 
appeal  in  each  case  must  be  different,  adapted  to  the 
man.  Peculiar  methods  must  be  used  in  approaching 
them — original  methods  in  selling  them. 

They  pursue  new  ideas.  To  pique  their  curiosity,  in- 
terest, personal  pride,  then,  is  to  fix  their  dynamic  brains 
for  the  moment  on  the  proposition  you  are  presenting. 
This  is  at  once  dangerous  and  profitable.  Experience 
and  training  fit  them  to  smash  through  any  flimsy,  stereo- 
typed assault  on  their  attention  and  bank  balance. 

The  fighting  instinct  is  rarely  lacking  among  men  who 
occupy  seats  of  the  business  mighty — and  hypnotic  power 
is  never  in  a  book  agent's  bag  of  tricks.  His  failures, 
then,  are  frequently  distressing.  For  sometimes  points 
of  contact  seem  wholly  lacking — at  least  he  cannot  find 
one.  There  are  men  who  demand  experience  and  amuse- 
ment at  first  hand.  They  insist  on  playing  with  ele- 
mental things  and  ignore  the  knowledge  locked  up  in 
books.  John  W.  Gates  is  one  of  these  auto-investiga- 
tors. Canvassing  him  was  one  of  my  Waterloos. 

My  newspaper  card  flushed  him — it  gave  no  hint  of 
my.  connection  with  the  business  office.  A  moment  after 

G9 


70     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

my  name  went  to  him  his  office  door  opened,  he  stepped 
quickly  to  the  railing  and  eyed  me  across  the  narrow 
ante-room  of  his  Rookery  suite. 

"Where's  B ?"  he  demanded.  B ,  I  learned 

later,  was  my  newspaper's  financial  editor.  "Doesn't 
your  editor  know  I'll  not  talk  to  a  reporter  I  don't 
know?" 

The  fat  was  in  the  fire  anyway.    I  jumped  after  it. 

"I'm  not  a  reporter,"  I  said,  with  an  assumption  of 
coolness  I  did  not  feel.  "I've  been  sent  down  to  ac- 
quaint you  with  our  plan  of  supplying  our  readers  with 
the  Universal  dictionary,  with  the  merits  of  which  you 
are  of  course  familiar." 

For  a  moment  his  eyes  probed  mine.  John  W.  Gates 
has  power — physical  and  mental  power  as  well  as  finan- 
cial— and  his  steady  glance  left  me  limp.  When  he 
turned  without  a  word  and  re-entered  his  office.  I  was 
glad,  I  felt  as  though  I  had  been  offering  a  manicure 
set  to  a  grizzly  bear — during  the  bear's  business  hours. 

The  First  Defeat  Furnishes  Ammunition  for  the  Second 

Charge 

Defeats  like  this  come  to  every  salesman.  But  the 
first  repulse  is  not  always  final.  The  test  of  his  selling 
ability  comes  when,  after  analysis  of  the  causes  of  his 
failure,  he  decides  whether  or  not  he  can  hammer  out 
of  his  first  reverse  a  plan  for  a  second  charge  up  to 
the  firing  line. 

F.  H.  Peavey  of  Minneapolis,  who  collected  grain  ele- 
vators as  some  men  gather  in  etchings  or  corner  lots, 
was  one  of  the  suavest  diplomats  I  ever  met  in  an  inside 
office.  In  our  first  encounter  he  mastered  me  as  easily 
as  a  great  lawyer  might  silence  a  police-court  cub.  Even 
now  I  haven't  a  clear  idea  of  what  happened  to  me  i*1 


LANDING  THE  ORDER  71 

his  Minneapolis  fortress.  He  was  courteous,  gentle,  ap- 
parently interested  up  to  the  very  moment  when  I  found 
myself  again  in  the  ante-room. 

I  have  since  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  so 
impregnable  because  he  knew  the  salesman's  game  and 
beat  it.  He  understood  that  it  is  the  agent's  first  pur- 
pose to  lift  the  prospect  into  his  own  atmosphere,  to 
guide  the  trend  of  the  interview  in  his  direction.  This 
Mr.  Peavey  combated. 

My  team-mate  went  after  Mr.  Peavey  after  my  rebuff, 
He  had  no  better  luck?  despite  my  coaching.  Mr.  Peavey 
would  have  seen  no  more  of  us,  if,  passing  on  the  street 
a  few  days  later,  he  had  not  saluted  us  with  a  smile  and 
a  flourish  plainer  than  words : 

"Gentlemen,  behold  your  master!' 

That  smile  was  Mr.  Peavey 's  undoing.  It  suggested 
a  new  approach  to  me.  Mr.  Peavey  prided  himself  on 
his  victory.  He  could  be  flattered,  so  I  would  give  him 
a  chance  to  air  his  satisfaction.  Perhaps  I  might  find 
the  weak  place  in  his  armor,  after  all.  I  left  Billings  at 
the  corner  and  Mr.  Peavey  hadn't  settled  to  work  before 
I  was  before  him  again. 

He  was  intrenched  behind  desks — his  own  broad  and 
flat,  his  son's  at  the  left,  his  stenographer's  at  the  right 
But  I  wedged  between  them  and  took  his  hand. 

'Mr.  Peavey,'  I  said,  pumping  gently  at  his  hand  as 
I  talked,  "my  business  is  to  sell  books,  but  I  didn't  come 
this  time  on  business.  That  was  my  mission  the  last 
time.  Apparently  I  forgot  it.  I  know  I  was  in  here — 
I  recognize  you  and  your  surroundings.  But  I  don't 
know  how  I  got  out.  It's  my  livelihood  to  know  how  to 
handle  men — but  this  time  you  did  the  handling.  And 
you  did  it  in  a  way  that  left  me  speechless,  amazed—- 
and, later,  curious.  Will  you  tell  me  how  you  did  it?" 


72     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

His  smile,  his  patent  amusement,  told  me  I  had  struck 
the  right  chord. 

Of  course,  he  couldn't  tell  me  what  I  asked.  But  we 
had  a  lively  and  interesting  debate  for  three  minutes — 
and  each  second  Mr.  Peavey  felt  better  about  his  ex- 
ploit. Then  I  saw  my  chance. 

"By  the  way,  the  Pan-American  is  in  your  library, 
I  suppose,  Mr.  Peavey.'  We  were  selling  the  Pan- 
American  Cyclopedia  in  conjunction  with  one  of  the 
Minneapolis  papers. 

Off  guard,  he  considered  for  a  minute. 

' '  I  don 't  know, ' '  he  admitted.  ' '  Son, ' '  he  asked,  turn- 
ing to  young  Peavey,  "have  we  the  Pan-American  up  at 
the  house?" 

"I  don't  know,"  the  answer  came,  "but  I  can  'phone 
and  find  out.' 

"Don't  trouble  yourself,"  I  protested,  "the  servant 
might  make  a  mistake.  Just  sign  here" — I  slipped  the 
order  book  down  on  the  table  with  the  fountain  pen  at 
the  provocative  angle — "and  I'll  deliver  the  books  this 
evening.  If  you  have  them,  you  can  send  the  new  set 
back.  I  presume  you'll  want  the  morocco  binding/ 

And  I  got  away  with  Mr.  Peavey 's  check — and  sold 
several  sets  on  the  strength  of  his  order. 

Trying  the  Plan  of  Rushing  a  Prospect  Off  His 

Feet 

"Tom"  Lowrie,  president  of  the  "Soo"  line,  traction 
magnate  and  all-round  captain  of  industry,  was  another 
Minneapolis  man  who  failed  to  fall  to  my  first  assault. 
I  knew  Mr.  Lowrie  must  be  rushed  off  his  feet  or  I'd 
get  no  order.  So  I  marched  into  his  private  office — he 
was  democratic  enough  to  make  that  easy — and  laid  the 
order  book  down  before  him. 


LANDING  THE  ORDER  73 

"Mr.  Harper  of  the  — — ,"  I  declared  with  convic- 
tion, "isn't  going  to  press  until  he  has  your  name  down 
for  the  Pan- American,  St.  Paul" — one  of  the  St.  Paul 
papers  was  backing  us  in  that  city  and  we  were  making 
the  most  of  the  "twin  cities'  rivalry — "is  twenty 
sets  ahead  of  us. ' 

Mr.  Lowrie  refused  to  be  rushed.  Those  words,  "your 
name  down" — the  idea  of  an  order — antagonized  him. 

"Not  for  a  holy  second/  he  retorted.  "Buying  a 
subscription  book  is  like  giving  a  half  dollar  to  an  In- 
dian. Do  it — and  the  whole  tribe  camps  on  your  door 
step. ' 

Evidently  I  had  taken  the  wrong  tack.  I  went  away 
and  communed  with  myself  for  ten  minutes.  Then  I 
sent  Billings  down  to  Lowrie 's  office — not  a  quarter 
hour  later,  to  try  a  new  method  of  approach. 

"Mr.  Harper  wants  you  to  take  the  Pan-American," 
he  declared.  "You  needn't  sign  an  order.  Jus\,  give 
me  a  check  for  nine  dollars  and  the  books  will  be  at  your 
home  tonight." 

Lowrie  grumbled  that  It  was  a  hold-up — but  wrote  the 
-:heck.  That  sliglri,  change  in  th^  approach — the  switch- 
ing of  the  emphasis  from  the  order  to  the  books — landed 
him,  I  think. 

Taking  the  Proposition  Over  the  Head  of  the 

"Small  Boss" 

Another  perplexing  problem  every  salesman  encount- 
ers is  the  "Easy  Boss" — the  department  head  who  be- 
lieves in  "letting  well  enough  alone,"  whose  good  nature 
is  often  abused  by  subordinates  he  trusts  too  generously. 
Convincing  such  a  man  of  the  merit  or  money-making 
quality  of  what  you  have  to  sell  is  labor  lost.  He  will 
listen  to  your  arguments,  show  interest  in  your  demon- 


74     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

stration,  even  take  your  device  on  trial,  but  in  the  end  he 
will  deny  the  order,  usually  with  the  explanation  that 
his  clerks  or  assistants  do  not  like  it  or  fail  to  get  re- 
sults with  it. 

There  are  two  ways  of  handling  such  a  department 
manager — either  educate  his  assistants  to  the  idea  that 
your  device  will  help  them  and  make  their  work  easier 
without  chopping  any  names  from  the  payroll,  or  go 
boldly  over  the  manager's  head  to  the  president  and 
sell  him.  The  first  method  is  slow  and  frequently 
barren  of  results.  If  it  is  possible  to  come  at  the  real 
executive,  I  prefer  direct  appeal  to  him. 

Bucking  the  Opposition  of  Employees  in  Fear  of 
Losing  their  Positions 

In  the  missionary  days  of  an  important  office  ap- 
pliance, I  had  a  strip  of  Chicago's  loop  district  for  my 
territory,  and  one  of  the  largest  clothing  houses  in  the 
world  for  a  prospect — "The  Hub.'  Our  office  records 
showed  that  the  company  had  put  in  one  of  our  models 
on  twenty  days '  trial  the  previous  year  and  had  returned 
it.  Self-confidence,  however,  figures  in  every  young 
salesman's  outfit,  and  I  promptly  called  on  this  com- 
pany's office  manager  and  auditor.  The  store's  methods 
were  so  up-to-the-hour  in  every  other  respect  that  I 
felt  reasonably  sure  of  a  sale. 

With  an  improved  model  to  talk  about,  my  approach 
went  swimmingly.  The  manager  was  interested,  but 
warned  me  that  our  appliance  had  failed  to  give  satis- 
faction the  year  before.  He  consented  to  a  second  test, 
however,  and  I  installed  the  new  model  and  explained  its 
uses  to  his  clerks. 

I  found  dust  on  the  keys  when  I  dropped  in  again  a 
fortnight  later.  The  clerks — all  women — gave  me  short 


LANDING  THE  ORDER  75 

answers,  and  I  sensed  the  sticking  point.  They  saw  the 
labor-saving  possibilities  of  the  appliance  and  were  mak- 
ing common  cause  in  opposing  an  innovation  which  might 
set  one  of  them  adrift.  Argument  was  useless,  so  I 
took  it  up  with  the  manager. 

He  was  considerate,  kindly,  full  of  regret  that  the 
office  force  could  not  use  the  appliance.  The  girls 
couldn't  get  the  hang  of  it,  didn't  like  it,  he  assured 
me;  and  intimated  that  our  delivery  wagon  could  call. 

Henry  C.  Lytton  was  the  president  of  the  company. 
I  had  read  and  heard  enough  of  him  to  know  that  he 
was  the  most  progressive  type  of  modern  business  man. 
Also  I  had  observed,  during  my  two  talks  with  the  aud- 
itor, that  Mr.  Lytton 's  private  office  was  guarded  always 
by  a  secretary.  It  would  be  absurd  to  attempt  to  reach 
him  except  when  the  secretary  was  off  duty. 

Leaving  the  store  by  one  entrance,  I  went  around  to 
the  other  and  asked  the  first  floorman  what  time  Mr. 
Lytton  got  down  in  the  morning.  He  named  an  hour  a 
bit  earlier  than  the  average.  The  following  day,  I  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Lytton  into  the  store,  took  the  next  elevator 
after  his  to  the  office  floor  and  entered  his  reception 
room.  I  was  trusting  to  luck  to  dodge  his  secretary. 
He  didn't  stop  me  because  he  was  waiting  beside  Mr. 
Lytton 's  desk  when  I  pushed  into  the  inner  office. 

An  ordinary  approach  would  invite  disaster.  So  I 
plunged— almost  to  the  verge  of  impertinence,  staking 
everything  on  the  effect. 

"Mr.  Lytton, "  I  asked  boldly,  "what  sort  of  office 
manager  have  you?  I've  offered  him  a  time-saving, 
labor-saving  appliance  and  he  rejects  it  on  his  clerks' 
.say-so.' 

The  great  merchant's  eyes  snapped. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  he  demanded. 


76     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

Briefly  I  told  him  what  had  happened — outlined  what 
my  device  would  do  in  money-saving,  in  preventing 
errors,  in  enforcing  system — and  urged  that  clerks  who 
feared  displacement  were  not  fair  judges  of  its  worth. 

He  led  the  way  into  the  outer  office. 

"Mr.  P ,'  he  said,  "why  aren't  we  using  these 

appliances  ?  You  are  paid  to  keep  us  in  touch  with  the 
newest  accounting  methods.  Why  haven't  you  ordered 
this  man's  device?' 

"The  girls  don't  like  them — they  can't  use  them  to 
advantage, ' '  the  office  manager  protested. 

"Explain  to  the  girls  that  they  must  learn  to  use 
them,"  Mr.  Lytton  announced.  'If  they  will  not,  em- 
ploy other  clerks." 

Then  he  thanked  me  and  went  back  to  his  office.  The 
manager  was  big  enough  to  see  his  mistake  without  re- 
senting my  actions  and  signed  the  order  the  minute  we 
determined  what  equipment  the  work  demanded. 

Where  Versatility  Counts — Adapting  Methods  to  the 

Prospect's  Mood 

Rapid-fire  argument  is  not  the  salesman's  only  re- 
source. Order-taking  is  not  always  a  problem  of  gal- 
loping in  on  a  prospect,  rushing  him  off  his  feet  and 
galloping  out  again.  Instead,  both  approach  and  argu- 
ment must  be  carefully  adapted,  not  only  to  the  man, 
but  to  the  circumstances,  the  mood  in  which  you  find 
him.  In  this  lies  the  value  of  team-work.  The  ex- 
perience of  the  defeated  comrade  frequently  points  the 
way  to  final  victory. 

While  I  had  the  trans-Mississippi  territory  for  the 
collection  of  modern  orations  which  President  McKinley 
and  Mark  Hanna  purchased  from  me,  I  was  breaking  in 
a  local  agent  at  Omaha.  He  had  canvassed  before  my 


LANDING  THE  ORDER  77 

arrival  some  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  town,  fail- 
ing in  a  majority  of  cases  to  get  their  orders.  One  man 
we  wanted  particularly  was  Judge  —  -,  perhaps  the 
leader  of  the  local  bench.  The  agent  had  done  more  than 
fail.  He  had  antagonized  him.  So  we  started  out  to 

bring  Judge into  line. 

We  found  him  in  his  chambers,  in  a  grumpy  mood.  The 
local  man  went  at  him.  The  Judge  fairly  stormed  in 
reply. 

I  waited  till  he  had  vented  all  his  ill-humor  on  the 
local  man.    When  the  reaction  came,  I  said  firmly : 

II  Judge  ,  you  have  received  an  altogether  er- 
roneous notion  of  this  work.     In  justice  to  yourself  as 
well  as  to  the  publishers,  I  want  to  give  you  a  compre- 
hensive idea  of  what  it  contains.     I'll  not  quote  prices 
to  you.     I  simply  want  a  chance  to  show  you  what  we 
have. ' ' 

"You  can  show  me,'  he  conceded,  "but  I'll  tell  you 
right  now  you  can't  sell  me.  Understand  that.' 

The  prospectus  contained  splendid  portraits  of  our 
orators  and  only  a  few  excerpts  from  their  speeches.  He 
showed  grudging  interest  in  the  pictures. 

"I  want  to  see  the  text/  he  demanded.  I  explained 
that  in  a  prospectus,  it  was  possible  to  include  only 
sample  pages  of  text.  Without  a  word,  he  dumped  my 
portfolio  down  on  his  desk  and,  marching  over  to  a 
lounge,  threw  himself  down  full-length.  I  had  lost  him 
apparently  as  definitely  as  had  my  Omaha  man.  But  I 
hung  on.  To  acknowledge  defeat  would  be  to  give  the 
local  man  excuse  for  a  hundred  failures. 

'Have  you  ever  been  mistreated  by  a  book  man?"  I 
asked. 

He  opened  his  eyes,  but  evaded  direct  reply  to  my 
question. 


78     HOW  TO  HANDLE  THE  BUYER 

"If  you  saw  my  library,"  he  answered,  "you'd  think 
I  was  pretty  good  to  book  agents.  I  don't  want  your 
books  because  I've  got  Brewer's  'Orations'  and  the  War- 
ner library  and  everything  of  the  sort  I  want  or  need.' 

His  tone  was  past  dispute.    I  must  find  another  way. 

"Have  you  read  Henry  W.  Grady's  speech  on  'The 
Race  Problem?'  " 

His  grunt  was  negative. 

I'm  no  elocutionist,  but  long  practice  has  made  my 
voice  flexible,  perhaps  sympathetic,  and  Grady's  oration 
is  one  of  the  few  that  will  live.  When  I  finished,  the 
judge's  eyes  were  on  me  and  the  knot  between  his  eye- 
brows had  disappeared.  I  had  hit  on  the  right  treat- 
ment. 

"Then  there's  General  Gordon's  'Last  Days  of  the 
Confederacy, '  '  I  went  on.  ' '  You  know  it,  Judge . 

"  'Ah,  my  friends,  every  ragged  soldier  that  sur- 
rendered that  day,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  from 
old  veteran  to  beardless  boy — every  one  of  them  car- 
ried a  heart  of  gold  in  his  breast — ' 

Pathos,  tears  for  a  cause  loved  and  lost  make  up  the 
fabric  of  that  speech.  Ending  it,  I  found  the  judge 
fumbling  for  his  handkerchief.  I  had  won  him,  had 
lifted  him  out  of  the  atmosphere  of  hostility  and  dis- 
trust. I  saw  that  the  order  was  mine  for  the  taking. 

I  crossed  to  the  lounere,  put  the  portfolio  again  in  his 
lap,  open  at  General  Gordon's  picture.  He  turned  to 
the  bindings  himself.  I  was  pledged  to  quote  no  prices 
to  him.  I  kept  my  word  until  he  released  me  of  his  own 
accord. 

"How  much  are  the  books  in  this  binding?"  he  asked. 
It  was  the  full  morocco.  His  check  and  the  stirring  note 
of  endorsement  he  gave  me  were  the  beginnings  of  pros- 
perity for  our  Omaha  man. 


Part  IV 


HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS' 

LISTS 


CUSTOMERS' 
LISTS 


DIRECTORY 
OF  PROS- 
PECTS AND 
CUSTOMERS 


PROSPECTS 
SALESMAN   IS 

TRYING 
TO  INTEREST 


SEASONABLE 

BUYERS 


REGULAR 
BUYERS 


PERSONAL 

INDEX  OF 

CUSTOMERS 


PERSONAL 
CHARACTER- 
ISTICS 


POINT  OF 
CONTACT 


RECORD  OF 

CUSTOMERS' 
PURCHASES 


FOR  REFERENCE 

IN 
MAKING  PRICES 


AS  MAILING 
LIST 


Here  are  outlined  the  various  kinds  of  customers'  lists  by  which  salesmen 
and  sales  managers  can  keep  in  touch  with  their  trade 


Make  Details  Automatic 

If  you  cram  the  memory  with  detail,  there 
is  no  room  for  creative  material.  If  the 
brain  is  to  do  creative  work  it  cannot 
handle  detail. 

The  acme  of  system  is  to  automatically 
care  for  routine  and  matters  that  occur 
with  mechanical  regularity— to  remove 
from  the  brain  the  superfluous  detail  and 
leave  it  free  to  plan  and  create. 

No  Niagara  of  business  was  ever  engi- 
neered by  a  detail  man;  no  mind  filled 
with  routine  ever  conceived  an  epoch- 
making  idea. 

Make  your  mechanical  system  handle 
and  execute  the  detail— use  your  human 
brain  to  conceive  the  new  idea,  to  develop 
the  new  plan. 


CHAPTER  X 
The  Salesman's  Directory  of  Buyers 

.BY  CHARLES  W.  NORTON 

District  Sales  Manager,   The  Shaw-Walker  Company 

The  salesman  who  wishes  to  keep  all  information  re- 
garding his  customers  and  prospects  in  systematic  record 
form,  needs  two  kinds  of  records:  first,  index  of  all  the 
individuals  and  firms  who  are  likely  to  buy  from  him — 
whom  he  is  to  keep  in  touch  with,  whether  they  be  cus- 
tomers or  merely  prospects;  and  secondly,  a  follow-up 
system  which  will  tell  him  every  day  whom  to  call  on 
and  permit  him  to  neglect  no  one. 

By  the  system  here  described,  all  this  can  be  done  on 
one  card.  It  can  be  used  either  by  the  city  salesman 
or  the  traveling  man — it  is,  in  fact,  used  by  a  salesman 
who  has  both  a  city  trade  and  an  out-of-town  trade.  The 
method  of  handling  the  city  trade  will  be  described  first. 

When  an  inquiry  is  received  from  an  individual  or 
firm  in  the  salesman's  territory,  or  when  he  learns  that 
a  firm  in  his  territory  is  in  the  market  for  goods,  or 
when  a  first  order  is  received,  a  card,  as  shown  in 
Form  1,  is  at  once  made  out  for  this  individual  or  firm. 
On  this  card  is  entered  the  firm  name  and  address,  the 
line  of  business  done,  telephone  number,  the  buyer,  the 
name  of  the  salesman,  amd  the  catalogues  sent  to  him . 

81 


82 


HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS'  LISTS 


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SALESMAN'S  DIRECTORY  OF  BUYERS      83 

In  the  upper  right-hand  corner  the  salesman  records 
the  kind  of  equipment  in  his  particular  line  which  the 
prospect  is  using.  This  the  salesman  can  discover  for 
himself,  if  he  has  a  sharp  eye,  when  he  calls  upon  the 
prospect,  or  he  learns  it  in  the  course  of  his 'dealings. 
It  tells  the  salesman  what  he  is  competing  against. 

How  the  Salesman's  List  of  Customers  is  Also  Used 

for  Follow-Up 

There  is  also  a  space  left  for  entering  remarks  or 
any  kind  of  information  worth  recording,  such  as  the 
general  needs  of  the  firm  and  any  peculiarities  in  its 
conditions.  At  the  bottom  of  the  card  the  salesman 
also  enters  any  quotations  he  makes  the  firm,  the  result 
of  calls,  notes  as  to  further  calls  to  be  made  and  the 
future  needs  of  the  house. 

The  card  is  then  filed  in  a  card  file — an  index  which 
contains  a  card  for  every  customer  and  every  prospect 
in  this  salesman's  territory. 

The  cards  in  this  file  are  divided  into  three  classes; 
first,  those  whom  the  salesman  is  trying  to  interest — 
these  may  be  either  prospects  who  have  never  bought 
from  him,  or  old  customers  whom  he  is  trying  to  sell 
further;  the  second  class  includes  the  firms  who  will  be 
in  the  market  for  certain  goods  at  a  certain  definite 
time;  those  big  firms  who  are  buying  right  along  and 
whom  the  salesman  must  call  on  periodically  to  solicit 
trade,  make  up  the  third  class. 

Now,  instead  of  dividing  his  cards  to  correspond  with 
these  three  classes,  and  thus  breaking  up  his  alpha- 
betical index,  the  three  classes  are  designated  by  clips 
placed  on  the  cards  in  three  different  positions.  The 
cards  of  firms  in  the  first  class  have  a  clip  put  over 
the  first  day  of  the  month.  The  cards  for  the  second 


84         HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS'  LISTS 

class  have  a  clip  over  the  fifteenth,  and  the  cards  of  the 
third  class,  on  the  thirtieth. 

On  the  first  of  every  month,  the  salesman  goes  over 
the  records  which  have  clips  on  that  day.  These  are 
firms  whom  he  is  trying  to  interest  in  his  goods;  they 
have  shown  an  interest  in  certain  articles  either  by  in- 
quiry or  in  some  other  manner,  and  he  wants  to  follow 
them  up.  The  cards  of  those  firms  which  he  thinks  it 
necessary  to  see  during  this  month  he  takes  out  of  this 
alphabetical  file  and  distributes  in  a  daily  follow-up 
file,  which  is  kept  in  another  drawer.  This  follow-up 
contains  31  daily  guide  cards  and  12  monthly  cards.  He 
places  the  cards  he  takes  out  of  the  file  behind  the  dates 
on  which  he  wishes  to  call  on  the  firm  in  question. 

Salesman  Goes  Over  Cards  Regularly  and  Knows 
How  to  Treat  Each  Class 

On  the  15th  of  the  month  the  salesman  goes  over  in 
a  similar  way  the  cards  which  have  a  clip  on  the  15th 
day — the  second  class  of  prospects,  those  who  will  be 
in  the  market  at  a  particular  time  and  for  particular 
goods.  If  that  time  is  within  the  next  thirty  days,  the 
salesman  takes  out  these  cards  and  distributes  them  to 
the  proper  date  in  his  daily  follow-up  file,  where  they 
will  come  up  on  the  proper  days. 

Likewise  on  the  last  of  the  month  he  goes  over  the 
cards  having  the  clips  on  that  date,  which  belong  to 
the  class  whom  he  calls  on  regularly.  These  cards  he 
also  files  in  his  follow-up  files  on  the  days  which  his  ex- 
perience tells  him  are  the  best  to  call  on  the  firms  in 
question. 

The  follow-up  file  is,  therefore,  the  active  working  file 
of  the  salesman.  He  refers  to  his  regular  alphabetical  file 
only  on  the  three  days  of  the  month  mentioned,  or  when 


SALESMAN'S  DIRECTORY  OF  BUYERS         85 

an  inquiry  comes  over  the  telephone  or  by  letter  from  one 
of  his  prospects  or  customers. 

Each  morning  he  takes  from  the  follow-up  file  the 
cards  in  front  of  the  guide  of  the  corresponding  date. 
These  represent  the  people  he  is  to  call  upon  that  day. 
He  glances  over  these  cards,  arranges  them  in  the  order 
in  which  he  wishes  to  make  his  calls,  places  them  in  a 
little  case,  which  he  carries  to  fit  his  pocket,  then  he  is 
ready  for  his  day's  work.  There  is  needed  no  copying  of 
data  from  cards  to  a  book. 

When  the  salesman  calls  on  a  customer  he  enters  on 
the  card  the  quotations  he  makes,  any  further  informa- 
tion, and  when  he  is  to  call  again.  If  he  is  to  call  again 
within  a  month  he  places  the  card  in  front  of  the  proper 
guide  in  his  follow-up  file;  if  he  is  not  to  call  within 
that  month  the  card  goes  back  into  the  alphabetical 
file  with  the  proper  clip  over  it,  and  it  will  come  up 

the  next  month  when  he  goes  over  these  cards  again. 


The  Brain  Partner 

THERE  are  more  men  than  you 
might  suppose  who  owe  their  repu- 
tations for  mighty  intellects  to  the  pres- 
ence in  the  upper  right  hand  drawers  of 
their  desks,  of  a  small  filing  case,  with 
carefully  selected  subjects  inscribed  on 
index  cards.  Henry  M.  Hyde. 


CHAPTER  XI 

i 

The  Salesman's  Album  of  Customers 

"Now  Smith  is  a  hard  man  to  sell,"  said  the  retiring 
salesman,  coaching  his  successor  who  was  about  to  start 
on  the  Ohio  circuit  for  the  plumbing  supply  house.  *  *  He 
is  immune  against  the  general  selling  arguments  for  our 
bath  tub ;  you  will  have  hard  work  to  make  him  believe 
they  are  any  better  than  the  cheaper  ones  he  has  been  get- 
ting from  the  Novelty  Iron  Works.  He  can  see  a  point 
if  it  is  shown  to  him,  but  you  have  got  to  show  it  to  him 
pretty  strong  if  you  want  to  sell  him." 

The  new  man  made  a  note  of  this  on  a  card  which  he 
headed:  "Smith  Plumbing  Company,  Newark,  Ohio," 
and  put  it  in  a  small  covered  card  file  after  a  guide  card 
labeled  "Newark," 

Several  months  later  his  route  took  him  to  Newark. 
Before  calling  on  the  Smith  Plumbing  Company  he 
looked  up  this  card  and  it  at  once  brought  to  his  mind 
the  retiring  salesman's  description  of  Smith's  peculiar- 
ities. When  he  entered  the  store.  Smith  was  talking  to 
the  Novelty  Iron  Works  man.  Without  a  word  the  new 
salesman  picked  up  a  flat  iron  from  one  of  the  shelves 
and  with  as  much  force  as  he  could  command,  threw  it 
directly  into  the  most  expensive  enameled  bath  tub  in  the 
establishment.  Smith  rushed  at  him  in  great  indigna- 

M 


SALESMAN'S  ALBUM  OF  CUSTOMERS      87 

tion,  threatening  to  hand  him  over  to  the  police,  where- 
upon the  new  salesman  introduced  himself  and  explained 
that  he  was  merely  trying  to  show  that  the  bath  tub, 
which  was  of  the  firm's  make  and  was  wholly  uninjured, 
was  of  the  superior  quality  claimed  for  it.  Smith  saw  the 
point  and  the  Novelty  Iron  Works  did  not  get  the  order. 

The  Advantage  in  Knowing  Just  How  to  Approach 

a  Buyer 

This  bit  of  information,  obtained  months  before  he 
had  ever  seen  Smith,  and  easily  forgotten  but  for  the 
record  he  had  made  of  it,  had  shown  the  new  man  that  he 
could  not  sell  him  by  means  of  the  usual  selling  argu- 
ments for  his  goods  but  must  do  something  extraordi- 
nary, and  it  got  him  the  order. 

It  is  just  this  thing  of  promptly  giving  the  right  argu- 
ment to  the  right  man — one  that  will  appeal  to  him  by 
fitting  his  conditions,  his  circumstances  or  his  peculiar- 
ities— that  constitutes  real  salesmanship  and  brings  or- 
ders. Out  of  the  many  arguments  presented  by  the  sales- 
man to  his  prospective  customer  or  the  many  ways  of 
approaching  or  handling  them,  there  is  generally  but  one 
out  of  all  of  these  that  gets  the  order ;  or  if  the  order  is 
not  obtained,  there  is  one  that  might  have  gotten  it — and 
this  is  the  one  that  suits  this  particular  customer  in  one 
or  more  of  these  respects.  Ability  to  judge  these  things 
on  first  acquaintance  is  rare.  Usually  it  requires  a 
longer  study  of  the  customer  than  the  circumstances  of 
one  call  will  permit  and  the  knowledge  gained  from  one 
visit  is  ordinarily  lost  from  the  memory  before  the  next 
one  comes  around. 

A  foreknowledge  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 
customer  buys,  easily  found  out  and  easily  forgotten  is 
often  the  controlling  point  in  selling.  >  «oal  salesman 


HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS '  LISTS 

negotiated  for  weeks  regarding  a  year's  contract  with  the 
purchasing  agent  of  a  railroad  with  which  his  mine  had 
done  business  for  years.  Good  service  was  the  main  con- 
sideration sought,  and  when  he  had  come  to  terms  with 
the  purchasing  agent,  he  was  reminded  that  the  general 
manager  always  approved  awards  of  so  large  a  contract. 


Form  1:     The  little  card  case  file  of  customers'  names  which  may  be  conveniently  car- 
ried by  the  salesman  on  his  route 

In  the  meantime  the  competing  mine's  representative 
had  been  working  on  the  general  manager,  convincing 
him  of  his  mine's  ability  to  furnish  the  service  and  he 
secured  the  contract.  The  other  salesman  knew  of  this 
requirement,  but  he  had  forgotten  it. 

These  points  of  information  regarding  his  customer  i* 
all  of  these  respects  are  too  valuable  for  the  salesman  to 
trust  to  his  memory  or  to  leave  to  the  more  general 


SALESMAN'S  ALBUM  OF  CUSTOMERS      89 

records  of  the  sales  manager.  He  should  make  prompt 
records  of  them  for  his  own  use,  both  from  his  own  obser- 
vation and  from  what  he  otherwise  learns  from  time  to 
time  and  from  trip  to  trip.  In  a  few  years  he  will  have 
a  collection  that  will  be  of  enormous  aid  to  him.  It  will 
help  him  judge  his  customers  in  advance,  select  the  sell- 
ing arguments  which  will  appeal  to  them,  or  the  way  of 
handling  them  which  will  suit  their  conditions  and  their 
peculiarities. 

Points  Worth  Remembering  Should  be  Systematically 

Kept  for  Reference 

This  information  should  be  persistently  and  syste- 
matically kept.  It  should  be  arranged  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  different  items  can  be  easily  recorded  as  they 
come  up  and  easily  referred  to  whenever  necessary.  A 
good  method  of  accomplishing  this  is  to  use  a  small  cloth- 
covered  card  file  with  a  lid  on  it,  of  the  style  carried  in 
stock  by  stationers  generally  (Form  I).  One  box  may  be 
used  for  each  state,  or  for  two  or  more  states  by  using 
prominent  division  cards.  A  state  should  be  divided  into 
different  towns  and  cities  on  the  route  by  guide  cards 
marked  with  the  name  of  each  one  and  arranged  alpha- 
betically. A  card  should  be  used  for  each  customer,  filed 
under  the  town  or  city  in  which  he  is  located  and  likewise 
filed  alphabetically.  Thus  all  names  of  the  salesman's 
customers  in  any  one  location  will  be  together  in  the  file 
in  alphabetical  arrangement,  so  that  any  one  of  them  can 
be  instantly  picked  out. 

Each  of  the  customers'  cards  should  be  headed  by  the 
name  and  address,  the  commercial  rating,  and  whether 
he  is  a  regular  customer,  an  intermittent  purchaser,  or 
merely  a  prospect  (Form  II).  Following  this  should  be 
the  buyer's  name,  the  approval  necessary  for  purchases, 


90          HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS'  LISTS 


NAME 


.  to 


}ff. 

BUYER 


RATING 


s<J 


/ 

nrtvA^Ks: 


/. 


*Jtrn. 


Form  II:     Customer's  card  on  which  the  salesman  enters  particulars  regarding  person^ 
characteristics  to  guide  him  in  later  approaches 

if  any  is  required,  and  any  special  conditions  attached 
to  the  method  used  by  the  customer  in  buying.  The  per- 
sonality, character  and  other  peculiarities  of  the  buyer 
should  be  recorded,  including  the  arguments  and  methods 
of  handling  him  which  have  been  found  effective;  and 
any  weakness  or  leanings  he  may  have  which  can  be 
played  upon  successfully  or  any  other  points  or  sugges- 
tions as  to  how  he  should  be  approached  and  handled. 
To  this  information  should  be  added  from  time  to  time 
various  other  kindred  points  and  suggestions  that  come 
to  a  salesman,  on  his  rounds  in  the  way  of  stray  bits  of 
gossip  or  other  points  affecting  his  customer. 

This  card  file  is  readily  carried  in  the  salesman's 
valise.  If  a  rubber  band  is  placed  around  it  there  is  no 
danger  of  any  of  the  cards  becoming  misplaced.  When 
he  arrives  at  a  certain  town  he  can  remove  the  cards  un- 
der the  name  of  that  town  and  carry  them  in  his  pocket 
as  he  makes  his  calls.  This  will  enable  him  to  consult 
each  card  before  he  makes  his  visits,  thus  posting  him 


SALESMAN'S  ALBUM  OF  CUSTOMERS      91 


accurately  as  to  all  of  the  different  points  of  information 
which  he  has  previously  gathered  concerning  the  cus- 
tomer. 

If  this  record  shows  that  his  customer  is  inclined  to  be 
a  very  religious  man,  he  should  naturally  be  guarded  in 
the  freedom  of  language  used.  If  it  shows  him  to  be 
specially  fond  of  baseball  or  motoring,  or  golf,  it  will 
give  him  a  talking  point  interesting  to  the  customer  with 
which  to  open  his  interview.  In  this  and  various  other 
ways  it  will  direct  his  efforts  along  the  lines  which  would 
appeal  best  to  the  peculiarities  and  conditions  of  each 
customer  visited. 

The  cards  might  include  on  the  back  a  chronological 
record  of  the  visits  made,  the  orders  obtained,  or  where 
an  order  is  not  secured,  the  reason  for  it  (Form  III). 
Any  objections  which  the  buyer  has  given  regarding  the 
salesman's  goods,  when  he  will  likely  be  in  the  market 
again,  and  other  points  of  this  nature  may  also  be  re- 
corded. 


DATS 


RECORD  OF  CALLS 


7&L 


L 


~ 


/ 


'J 


Form  III:     Reverse  of  the  personal  record  card,  on    which  is  en tered  a  report  of  each 

call  made  on  the  customer 


CHAPTER  XII 
The  Salesman's  Memory  Partner 

BY  CHARLES  W.  NORTON 

District  Sales  Manager,  The  Shaw-Walker  Company 

One  of  the  greatest  helps  to  the  salesman  in  enabling 
him  to  deal  intelligently  with  his  customers  is  a  com- 
plete record  of  the  orders  that  each  buyer  has  given  him. 
To  serve  its  purpose,  however,  such  a  record  must  be 
readily  accessible,  so  that  it  can  be  turned  to  imme- 
diately when  the  salesman's  memory  regarding  past 
orders  fails  him.  By  a  simple  system  this  convenience 
may  be  provided  without  the  necessity  of  any  copying. 

When  the  salesman  returns  to  his  office  from  his 
route,  he  makes  out  the  orders  he  has  taken  on  a  quad- 
ruple order  sheet.  These  cards  are  all  printed  and  ruled 
exactly  the  same  in  the  most  simple  possible  manner. 
The  first  card  is  the  office  copy,  from  which  bills  and 
so  on  are  made;  the  second  copy  is  shipping  clerk's 
copy ;  the  third,  which  is  a  white  sheet,  is  the  copy  which 
the  salesman  keeps  himself ;  the  fourth  is  the  copy  which 
is  sent  to  the  factory  and  from  which  the  goods  are  picked 
out  of  stock  or  specially  made. 

The  third  copy,  then,  the  salesman  keeps.  This  he 
places  in  a  folder  of  heavy  manila  paper,  on  the 
upper  flap  of  which  lie  enters  the  name  and  address 

92 


SALESMAN'S  MEMORY  PARTNER     93 

of  his  customer.  The  lower  flap  is  ruled  like  the  cus- 
tomer's ledger  card;  here  is  entered  the  amount  of  each 
individual  order,  together  with  its  date  and  the  order 
number.  The  credit  column  is  not  for  the  entry  of  col- 
lections, with  which  the  salesman  has  nothing  to  do,  but 
for  recording  charge-backs  or  rebates  of  any  kind  that 
may  be  made  to  the  customer. 

Salesman's  Copy  of  Actual  Orders  is  Preserved  for 

Reference 

The  copies  of  the  orders  are  placed  in  these  folders, 
the  latest  one  always  in  front,  as  this  is  the  one  which 
the  salesman  refers  to  most  frequently.  One  is  made 
out  for  each  customer  who  has  given  two  or  more  orders ; 
they  are  filed  alphabetically  in  a  card  drawer.  In  front 
of  each  guide  card,  besides  folders  for  the  individual 
customers,  there  is  a  folder  labeled  "miscellaneous,"  in 
which  are  filed  orders  of  customers  who  have  placed 
not  more  than  one  order. 

This  file  gives  the  salesman  a  complete  record  of  all 
his  sales,  itemized.  If  a  customer  demands  a  better 
price,  giving  as  his  reason  that  he  has  given  big  business 
to  the  salesman,  the  salesman  can  at  once  go  to  this  file 
and  find  out  what  his  business  with  this  house  has  been. 
It  also  gives  him  all  the  information  that  is  necessary 
in  soliciting  new  orders. 

This  order  file  is  a  real  customer's  file,  in  distinction 
from  the  alphabetical  files  usually  kept,  which  contain 
the  names  of  prospects  as  well  as  customers.  If  he 
wishes  to  send  a  new  catalogue,  a  new  price-list,  or  any 
advertising  literature  to  his  customers,  the  addressing 
clerk  will  address  from  the  order  file.  If  he  wishes  to 
address  both  prospects  and  customers,  the  clerk  will  ad- 
dress from  the  card  file. 


94          HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS*  LISTS 

Most  salesmen,  even  though  they  are  on  a  salary, 
receive  some  commission  on  their  sales.  Unless  the  sales- 
man keeps  close  account  of  these  commissions  he  is  liable 
to  get  into  constant  trouble  with  the  house,  not  only 
on  account  of  the  firm 's  mistakes,  but  also  his  own. 

In  this  system  this  is  taken  care  of  by  means  of  what 
amounts  to  a  card  ledger.  The  salesman  is  paid  his  com- 
mission every  quarter.  Suppose  one  of  his  quarters  be- 
gins on  January  1st ;  he  makes  out  a  regular  4x6  ledger 
card  with  his  name  at  the  top,  and  enters  here  his  sales 
as  he  makes  them  day  by  day.  A  column  is  provided 
for  charge  backs,  and  the  balance  is  shown  in  the  third 
column.  This  card  is  filed  in  front  of  a  guide  marked 
"Jan.  to  Mar."  It  may  need  one  card,  it  may  need 
twenty,  to  hold  all  the  sales  for  this  period.  They  are 
all  filed  in  that  one  place. 

At  the  end  of  the  three-months'  period  the  salesman 
simply  hands  the  cards  in  front  of  the  proper  guide  to 
the  clerk,  who  copies  them  off  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  which 
he  sends  to  the  office. 


T 


Handling  the  Force 

HE  successful  sales  manager  is  pri- 
marily a  manager  of  men — not 
things.  He  must  judge  them,  influence 
them,  train  and  develop  them,  and 
above  all,  "handle"  them— "handle" 
in  that  subtle  meaning  that  implies  sin- 
cerity and  tact  and  force,  and  that  gains 
confidence  and  co-operation. 

Walter  H .  Cottingham. 


Part  V 


HOW   TO    KEEP   CUSTOMERS 

IN  LINE 


CO-OPERATING 
WITH  THE  DEALER 


BY  SALESMAN 


BY  HOUSE 


OBSERVING  AND  REPORTING 
SALES  SCHEMES 


HELPING  MEET  COMPLAINTS 


SUGGESTING  AND  HELPING 
SPECIAL  SALES 


HELPING  PLAN  SEASON'S 

CAMPAIGN 


GIVING  ADVICE  ON   PRICES 
AND  STYLES 


KEEPING  IN  TOUCH 
BETWEEN  CALLS 


RETAILER'S 
SERVICE  BUREAU 


SPECIAL  ADVERTISING 


TRADE  HELPS 


TEACHING 
DEALER  HIS  GOODS 


HOUSE    ORGANS 


This  chart  outlines  the  several  ways  by  which  the  house,  directly  or  through 
the  salesman,  can  co-operate  with  the  dealer 


The  Come-back  That 
Counts 


Success  isn't  made  up  of  orders.  It  is 
made  up  of  re-orders.  And  a  good  cus- 
tomer, wrongly  treated,  lasts  no  longer 
than  the  shoddy  he  buys. 

There  is  always  a  "come-back"  on  every 
sale.  Whether  it  is  a  "come-back"  in 
re-orders,  or  a  "come-back"  in  returned 
goods  depends  entirely  upon  your  product 
itself. 

"Value  received9  is  the  most  potent 
salesman  after  the  first  order  is  filled. 

Every  cent  saved  in  shortened  value,  is 
lost  in  shortened  trade.  To  keep  up  the 
sales— keep  up  the  quality. 

Aim  first  to  sell  Satisfaction;  and  the 
goods  that  give  it  will  re-sell  themselves. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Getting  the  Re-orders 

BY  P.  W.  LENNEN 
Sales  Manager,  The  Royal  Tailors 

Te  get  closer  to  the  retailer — that  is  the  constant  aim 
of  the  wholesaler  and  manufacturer.  To  learn  his  diffi- 
culties and  help  him  master  them;  to  see  with  him  his 
opportunities  and  help  him  take  advantage  of  them;  to 
help  him  build  new  business  where  it  had  not  existed 
before.  In  fact,  to  construct  between  house  and  dealer 
a  connecting  link  called  co-operation  and  to  compel  the 
dealer  to  feel  that  in  this  co-operation  lies  his  own  success. 

The  Salesman  is  the  Personal  Connecting  Factor  Between 

Wholesaler  and  Dealer 

But  all  these  negotiations,  which  lead  ultimately  to 
the  enrolling  of  the  dealer  as  a  regular  buyer,  can  be 
conducted  best  through  but  one  medium,  the  ambassador 
of  business, — the  salesman.  He  learns  first  hand  the 
conditions  of  the  dealer 's  business,  his  needs,  his  spe- 
cific trade  troubles.  Knowing  these,  he  is  in  position  to 
assume  the  role  of  a  business  doctor  and  prescribe  for  the 
retailer's  ills. 

This  help  to  the  dealer,  while  it  comes  through  the 
salesman,  really  emanates  from  the  house  itself.  It  is 

97 


98      HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS  IN  LINE 

drawn  from  the  emergency  stock  of  retailers'  remedies 
which  the  concern  has  accumulated  through  years  of  con- 
tact with  the  dealers  and  intimate  study  of  their  prob- 
lems. Scarcely  a  wholesaler  or  manufacturer  these  days 
but  has  his  service  bureau  for  the  customer's  benefit.  It 
may  not  always  be  established  as  a  separate  department, 
but  there  is  at  least  a  special  provision  made  whereby 
each  dealer  is  given  the  best  advice  and  information  the 
§rm  has  to  fit  his  case. 

This  stock  of  ammunition  for  the  man  behind  the 
•counter  is  gathered  from  varied  sources  by  the  salesman, 
who  notes  the  vital  points  of  successful  schemes  and 
plans  worked  by  dealers  on  their  routes,  from  the  col' 
limns  of  trade  papers,  from  letters  of  retailers  them- 
selves, and  many  selling  plans  are  worked  out  originally 
by  the  members  of  the  service  bureau. 

How  the  House  Fortifies  the  Dealer  by  Teaching  Him 

His  Goods 

When  a  house  transacts  its  first  business  with  a  new 
customer  or  when  it  sells  an  old  customer  a  new  line 
of  stock,  it  can  help  the  dealer  in  his  handling  of  their 
goods  by  first  of  all  teaching  him  the  product  itself. 
To  do  this,  the  salesman  goes  over  the  points  and  qual- 
ities of  the  article  from  A  to  Z;  he  gives  the  customer 
a  whole  reserve  battery  of  information  regarding  it — 
the  raw  materials  that  enter  into  it,  the  process  of  manu- 
facture, the  part  and  purpose  of  each  ingredient,  the 
varied  uses  of  the  article  itself. 

'To  sell  these  goods  you  must  know  them,"  says  the 
salesman  to  the  dealer.  "You  want  to  build  up  the 
greatest  possible  volume  of  trade  with  the  greatest  profit 
to  yourself.  You  want  to  sell  more  of  these  goods  than 
your  rival  across  the  street  sells  of  the  rival  line.  You 


GETTING  THE  RE-ORDERS  99 

want  to  convince  your  customers  not  only  that  this  stock 
is  the  best  to  be  had,  but  you  want  to  tell  them  why.' 

Thus  the  salesman  fortifies  the  dealer  with  informa- 
tion regarding  his  goods.  On  his  first  few  calls  this 
educational  talk  is  long  and  detailed,  later,  as  other 
products  are  added  to  his  line,  he  explains  them. 

But  this  is  only  the  first  step.  The  house  goes  further, 
it  brings  to  the  dealer  more  advice  in  printed  form. 
For  example,  one  house  which  handles  a  staple  line  aims 
to  supplement  the  work  of  the  salesman  in  explaining 
a  product  verbally.  It  publishes  for  the  retailer's  bene- 
fit a  "text  book"  of  its  goods,  in  which  every  article 
is  described  in  detail,  its  make-up  analyzed,  its  uses 
pointed  out,  its  superior  features,  its  best  talking  points 
emphasized. 


Courtesy  a  Trade  Builder 

OHOW  me  a  house  where  all  the  em- 
^  ployees  are  educated  to  think  kindly 
of  the  customers,  so  that  in  speaking  of 
them  even  they  use  courteous  phrases, 
and  I  can  safely  predict  for  that  house 
rapid  and  continuous  success  so  long  as 
that  policy  prevails. 

Daniel  Louis  Hanson. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  Salesman  as  the  Customer's  Partner 

BY  W.   F    HYPES 

Sales  Manager,  Marshall  Field  <§•  Company. 

Help  for  the  dealer,  the  kind  which  cements  the  busi- 
ness relationship  and  really  creates  a  spirit  of  co-opera- 
tion between  house  and  retailer,  is  generally  known  to 
be  of  two  kin  Is,  that  which  originates  with  the  house 
itself  and  that  which  the  salesman  himself  furnishes 
independently  from  his  own  fund  of  information  in  his 
daily  calls.  There  is  no  questioning  the  ultimate  value 
of  both  kinds,  but  the  latter  capacity  brings  the  sales- 
man into  so  much  closer  touch  with  the  customer  that 
it  frequently  proves  of  far  greater  and  more  immediate 
concrete  value  to  him  than  he  would  ever  derive  through 
adapting  methods  on  his  own  initiative  from  the  printed 
ammunition  of  the  house.  In  fact,  some  wholesalers  and 
manufacturers  recognize  this  to  the  extent  that  they 
depend  entirely  upon  their  salesmen  to  aid  the  trade 
in  a  purely  personal  way. 

The  Salesman,  Through  Observation,  Understands  Per- 
fectly the  Retailer's  Problems 

And  the  salesman  can  do  this  because  he  is  virtually 
not  only  a  salesman,  but  a  retailer.  He  may  never 

100 


SALESMAN  AS  CUSTOMER'S  PARTNER  101 

have  taken  an  inventory  or  sold,  a  dollar's  worth  of 
groceries  to  the  consumer,  but  h«?  -a^je-'stands  tne  game 
and  he  understands  it  from  .the  retailer's,  standpoint 
He  knows  the  difficulties  which  .the •.fabler  has\  to,  cork- 
tend  with,  the  problems  of  the  store.  He  knows  him- 
self the  best  methods  of  advertising  certain  goods,  of 
planning  certain  sales  and  arranging  displays.  He 
acquires  this  knowledge  of  the  game  not  through  an 
apprenticeship  behind  the  counter,  but  through  con- 
stant contact  with  the  needs  and  methods  of  the  men 
he  meets  daily.  That  is  to  say,  he  is  a  retailer  neither 
by  training  nor  design,  but  by  observation. 

Salesman  Becomes  a  Retailer's  Clearing  House  for 
Sales  Ideas  and  Suggestions 

Tims  Ee  almost  unconsciously  becomes  a  clearing  house 
of  ideas  for  the  retailer.  He  observes  in  Brown's 
store  on  Monday  a  sale  on  glassware  conducted  in  a 
strikingly  novel  way.  He  observes  the  significant  points 
in  the  advertising,  the  manner  of  display  and  ascertains 
accurately  the  results.  Next  day  or  a  week  later  he 
drops  in  on  Jones,  fifty  miles  down  the  road.  Glancing 
around  the  store  he  notes  that  an  over  plentiful  stack 
of  glassware  has  accumulated.  Instantly  his  mind  goes 
back  to  the  sale  and  he  sees  an  opportunity  to  help 
Jones  out. 

"Jones,"  he  says,  "you're  getting  loaded  up  on  the 
glassware  there.  I'm  afraid  if  you  don't  move  it 
soon  you'll  get  stuck.  Now,  I  can  tell  you  how  to  clean 
those  shelves  in  three  days.  Brown,  down  at  Tren- 
ton, got  overloaded  that  way.  But  he  got  busy  and 
pulled  off  a  bargain  sale  that  had  them  standing  in 
line  waiting  to  buy  water  sets  that  had  been  in  the 
store  for  two  years." 


102    HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS  IN  LINE 

He  then  goes  on  to  describe  in  detail  how  the  other  re- 
tailer planned  Higgle;  how  he  advertised  it  and  how  it 
was  actually  conducted  in  the  store. 

Mor<?  of  tea,  however,  the  salesman  has  some  scheme 
for  successfully  handling  a  large  quantity  of  goods  ID 
one  of  his  own  lines. 

"We've  got  a  great  old  trade-winner  for  you  in 
these  negligee  shirts,"  he  may  say.  "They  certainly 
are  the  best  value  we've  ever  had  for  the  money,  Wil- 
son, over  at  Elmwood,  took  a  big  bill  of  them  and  1 
happened  to  get  around  to  his  place  the  tenth,  just  as 
they  arrived.  So  Wilson  and  I  got  together  and  fig- 
ured out  a  special  offer  on  them  that  worked  with  a 
vengeance.  Got  a  letter  from  him  this  morning;  said 
he  had  sold  sixteen  dozen  in  three  days  and  they  were 
still  coming.  Tell  you  how  we  did  it.' 

Not  all  dealers  expect  or  are  willing  to  receive  such 
help  from  the  salesman.  They  feel  themselves  capable 
of  running  their  own  business,  and  like  to  pride  them- 
selves on  it.  But  the  average  progressive  dealer  is  on 
the  lookout  for  suggestions,  and  he  welcomes  the  traveler 
as  a  real  counselor.  In  fact  to  a  certain  extent  he  de 
pends  upon  him. 

As  a  case  in  point,  a  salesman  for  a  general  line  house 
told  me  recently  of  a  personal  experience  in  the  store 
of  one  of  his  Iowa  customers. 

"I  got  into  Waterloo  one  Tuesday  evening,  and  on 
the  way  to  the  hotel  dropped  into  the  store  of  one  of 
our  good,  old,  faithful  buyers — not  to  take  any  orders, 
for  I  would  do  that  in  the  morning,  but  just  to  say 
*  hello.'  The  boss  was  out,  but  the  first  clerk  met  me 
with  a  smile  and  outstretched  hand. 

"  'How  are  you,  Jackson/  he  said,  *  you 're  just  in 
time.  The  old  man  will  be  glad  to  see  you.  He's  got 


SALESMAN  AS  CUSTOMER'S  PARTNER  103 

a  clearance  sale  on  for  next  week  and  wants  some  help 
on  the  plans.  Just  this  morning  he  was  saying  he 
hoped  you  wouldn't  miss  fire  this  trip,  because  you 
always  have  such  corking  good  ideas  on  such  things/ 

"It  made  me  feel  good,'  said  the  salesman,  'to 
know  that  that  dealer  actually  looked  to  us  for  help. 
Next  morning  I  took  off  my  coat,  and  we  laid  out  the 
sale.  I  gave  him  a  lot  of  good  ideas  I  had  picked  up, 
and  when  we  got  through,  my  taking  his  order,  one 
of  the  biggest  he  had  ever  given  us,  was  mere  for- 
mality. ' 

Opportunities  for  a  salesman  to  help  his  customer 
are  practically  unlimited.  The  sale  and  advertising 
aids  are  but  a  beginning.  Advice  as  to  probable  con- 
ditions of  the  market,  coming  fashions,  tl  e  available 
supplies  of  certain  goods,  the  amount  of  stock  he  could 
carry  in  certain  lines,  the  evidence  of  activities  on 
the  part  of  competitive  goods  and  how  to  meet  them — 
all  these  he  can  give  the  retailer  if  the  spirit  of  give 
and  take  has  been  established. 


Personal  Interest 

LET  your  customer  know  that  a  per- 
sonal interest  attaches  to  him — a 
real  personal  interest  that  is  not  mea- 
sured wholly  by  his  orders  and  his  dol- 
lars— and  you  will  win  in  return  that 
closed  personal  association  and  active 
support  that  build  up  business. 

George  H.  Barbour. 


CHAPTER  XV 
Giving  the  Customer  a  Lift 

BY  P.  W.  LENNEN 
Sales  Manager,  The  Royal  Tailors 

Tight  places  come  in  all  fields  of  business — they 
thwart  and  threaten  the  prosperity  of  the  retailer,  the 
wholesaler,  the  manufacturer.  And  when  they  halt  the 
business  progress  of  the  first  of  those  three,  they  affect 
in  turn  the  other  two,  for,  on  the  dealer,  the  outpost, 
depends  the  activity  of  the  first  two  factors  in  the 
production  and  distribution  of  goods. 

The  thing  for  the  producer  and  wholesaler  to  do 
then  is  to  lend  a  hand  in  helping  their  customer  over 
the  tight  places,  to  school  him  to  do  his  business  better, 
to  give  him  a  lift  in  the  crises  of  his  trade. 

To  do  this  they  naturally  turn  first  to  their  go- 
between,  the  sales  force,  for  they  are  the  only  part  of 
the  organization  coming  in  direct  contact  with  the  deal- 
er; and  work  of  this  kind  is  always  more  effectively 
done  by  personal  contact.  The  traveling  salesmen, 
hence,  are  made  the  company's  schoolmasters. 

I  want  in  this  chapter  to  show  nothing  more  than  the 
extent  to  which  this  help  to  the  dealer  can  be  developed, 
and  I  shall  do  it  merely  by  the  citation  of  two  actual 
instances  of  such  work. 

104 


GIVING  CUSTOMERS  A  LIFT  105 

A  large  furniture  house  has  a  department  devoted  to 
giving  the  dealer  advertising  and  selling  advice  and 
plans,  made  specific  to  each  advertiser.  A  dealer  writes 
in  that  he  wishes  during  the  spring  months  to  adver- 
tise rattan  furniture.  The  " retailer's  help"  depart- 
ment asks  him  for  full  information  regarding  his  stock, 
the  class  of  his  customers,  buying-conditions  in  his 
town,  the  mediums  he  intends  using,  the  amount  of 
money  he  is  ready  to  spend.  Much  of  this  informa- 
tion the  house  already  has  from  its  salesmen  and  from 
general  knowledge  of  its  customers. 

A  special  series  of  advertisements  is  then  prepared 
and  sent  to  the  retailer  with  specific  instructions  re- 
garding their  handling.  It  then  posts  the  salesman  on 
the  situation,  and  he,  on  the  occasion  of  his  first  call 
on  this  particular  dealer,  takes  his  own  active  part  in 
making  the  sale  a  success.  On  the  ground,  he  sees 
first-hand  opportunities  to  make  the  dealer  and  his  clerks 
more  efficient.  He  suggests  a  special  touch  to  the  ad- 
vertisinG1  to  meet  local  conditions,  he  instructs  the  store 
salesmen  in  the  best  selling  points  of  the  furniture,  and 
possibly  jumps  into  the  game  himself  and  puts  in  half 
a  day  decorating  a  window. 

Salesman  and  Dealer  Together  Lay  Out  the  Campaign 
and  Pick  the  Ammunition 

Somewhat  different  from  this,  but  no  less  successful 
in  actual  demonstration,  is  the  plan  of  a  large  stove 
manufacturing  concern.  Before  the  salesmen  take  to 
the  road  they  go  carefully  over  the  company's  selling 
plans  for  the  season.  They  carry  samples  of  all  the 
new  advertising  booklets,  letters  and  form  advertise- 
ments, and  explain  to  each  dealer  and  his  clerks  just 
how  these  should  be  used  to  get  the  greatest  results. 


106     HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS  IN  LINE 

They  also  demonstrate  how  a  sale  should  be  made,  and 
enlarge  on  the  improved  novelties  in  their  line. 

With  the  dealer,  they  go  over  conditions  in  his  terri' 
tory  and  outline  the  season's  campaign.  Together  they 
determine  what  booklets  and  how  many  will  be  needed 
to  cover  the  district,  how  various  classes  of  prospects 
shall  be  handled  and  what  advertising  the  dealer  him- 
self will  need  to  do.  All  this  is  reported  to  the  main 
office.  On  the  salesman's  regular  order  blank  for  the 
customer  he  lists  also  the  advertising  supplies  which 
the  dealer  needs,  and  makes  any  further  recommenda- 
tions he  deems  necessary,  such  as  that  a  window  trim- 
mer be  sent  or  that  he  be  given  special  plans  to  meet 
such  and  such  conditions.  And  throughout  this  rela- 
tion with  the  dealer  he  never  for  a  moment  allows  him 
to  forget  the  spirit  of  co-operation  that  lies  back  of  it 
all,  the  desire  of  the  house  to  be  an  actual  help  to  him 
in  his  business. 


Planning  the  Second  Sale 

WHEN  the  scientific  salesman  sells 
a  bill  of  goods  he  applies  his 
mind  to  a  consideration  of  the  surroun- 
dings and  conditions  governing  that 
sale  to  ascertain  how  he  can  duplicate 
it  with  less  expense  of  time,  labor  or 
money,  and  with  a  prospect  of  a  greater 
amount  of  profit. 

W.  A.  Waterbury. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

The  Salesman's  Follow-up  Between 

Calls 

The  accumulated  force  of  varying  selling  arguments, 
the  final  effects  of  persistency,  the  principle  of  gradual 
persuasion,  apply  just  as  strongly  to  direct  as  to  mail 
order  selling.  And  the  salesman  needs  a  follow-up,  for 
there  is  not  one  who  can  call  upon  his  customers  and 
prospects  as  often  as  he  would  like  to. 

The  mails  offer  as  elastic  a  medium  and  the  letter  is 
as  effective  a  bait  for  the  salesman  as  for  the  mail-order 
house. 

To  conduct  such  a  personal  letter  follow-up  on  his 
prospects  and  customers  between  his  personal  calls,  a 
salesman  must  have  three  things :  he  must  have  a  file  of 
his  customer;  he  must  have  a  system  for  handling  the 
work ;  and  he  must  have  printed  matter  to  send  them. 

In  all  of  these  he  needs  most  of  all  the  co-operation 
of  the  house.  The  principles  of  a  correspondence  follow- 
up  on  customers  are  being  appreciated  more  and  more 
by  the  sales  manager;  but  he  must  necessarily  plan  his 
follow-up  on  more  or  less  general  lines.  The  salesman 
himself  comes  in  direct  contact  with  his  prospect  and 
customers.  He  has  fewer  to  follow  up  and  he  is  on  a 
more  personal  footing  with  them,  so  he  can  make  his 

107 


108    HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS  IN  LINE 


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FOLLOW-UP  BETWEEN  CALLS  109 

follow-up  much  more  special  and  direct.  But  he  needs 
material  and  he  needs  advice ;  and  these  he  can  get  from 
the  home  office. 

To  conduct  a  follow-up  accurately  and  systematically 
an  attention-calling  record  is  the  first  essential. 

The  listing  of  each  customer's  or  prospect's  name  and 
history  on  a  card  file  affords  the  best  possible  record  for 
follow-up  purposes.  Because  of  its  great  elasticity  of 
expansion  or  contraction  and  the  ease  of  removing  dead 
or  worked  out  names,  the  salesman  can  carry  it  around 
with  him  in  compact  form. 

System  for  Handling  the  Records  of  the  Salesman's 

Personal  Follow-Up 

Such  a  card  index  must  give  two  kinds  of  references. 
The  cards  should  be  arranged  alphabetically  by  name 
so  that  the  card  of  any  particular  prospect  or  customer 
may  be  at  once  located  in  the  files  if  the  salesman  wants 
any  information  regarding  him.  The  files  must  also 
be  arranged  chronologically,  so  that  automatically  atten- 
tion will  be  called  to  those  names  which  are  to  be  fol- 
lowed up  on  any  particular  line. 

This  chronological  purpose  can  be  accomplished  with 
alphabetically  arranged  files  by  using  cards  which  have 
either  the  thirty-one  days  of  the  month  or  the  weeks 
or  months  arranged  across  the  top  of  the  form,  as  shown 
in  Form  I.  Movable  clips  are  placed  on  that  figure  on 
the  card  indicating  the  date  the  salesman  wishes  the 
name  called  to  his  attention.  As  the  cards  are  all 
printed  alike,  the  clips  for  any  particular  date  are  in 
the  same  line  across  the  top  of  the  file  and  all  can 
thus  be  quickly  picked  out  on  that  date.  When  a  name 
has  been  attended  to  the  clip  can  be  moved  to  the  next 
date  and  it  will  come  up  in  the  same  manner.  At  the 


110    HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS  IN  LINE 

same  time  the  alphabetical  arrangement  of  the  cards 
allows  any  prospect  or  customer's  name  and  record  to 
be  found  at  once. 

The  covered  card  file  shown  in  Form  II  serves  very 
conveniently  for  the  salesman's  follow-up  purposes.  The 
cards  themselves  can  be  alphabetically  arranged  in  it, 
following  such  division  guide  cards  as  are  most  suitable 
for  each  particular  purpose.  The  city  salesman  may 
divide  his  file  by  district  guides,  the  traveling  man  by 
states  and  towns,  and  the  insurance  solicitor  by  the  kind 
of  policies  he  is  trying  to  sell. 

Such  a  card  file  is  handy  to  get  at,  and  takes  but 
little  work  to  keep  up.  By  placing  a  rubber  band  around 
it  the  file  can  be  carried  in  a  valise  or  in  the  coat  pocket 
without  any  risk  of  disturbing  the  arrangement  of  the 
cards,  and  the  salesman  then  has  immediately  at  hand 
an  accurate  record  of  what  he  has  done  to  persuade  his 
prospective  customers,  and  what  he  must  do  further  to 
secure  their  orders. 

On  these  cards  are  listed  the  various  stages  of  the 
follow-up,  what  circulars,  letters,  catalogues,  and  other 
matter  have  been  sent,  what  other  means  used,  and  the 
results.  The  salesman  will  naturally  go  over  the  cards 
just  before  he  makes  a  call  on  the  customer  or  prospect 
to  freshen  his  mind  with  the  facts  concerning  each  pros- 
pect's business.  After  the  call  the  salesman  should  add 
to  the  result  any  suggestion  for  future  work,  and  should 
then  put  a  clip  on  the  card  at  the  date  when  he  wishes 
to  follow  the  man  up,  anywhere  from  two  days  to  two 
weeks. 

The  salesman  can  go  through  these  cards  every  morn- 
ing, so  that  when  this  card  comes  up,  in  a  week  or 
two  weeks  or  ten  days,  no  matter  if  the  salesman  is 
twenty  miles  away,  he  can  write  to  the  customer  or 


FOLLOW-UP  BETWEEN  CALLS  111 

follow  him  up  in  any  other  way  he  sees  fit.  In  this 
manner,  even  though  he  does  not  call  on  a  customer 
once  in  two  months,  he  really  is  keeping  the  customer 
in  mind  and  bringing  himself  to  the  customer's  atten- 
tion every  few  days. 

Success  in  getting  results  out  of  such  a  follow-up  sys- 
tem will  depend  upon  the  cleverness  of  the  salesman's 
literature,  just  as  his  personal  work  depends  upon  his 
ability  as  a  seller.  While  a  regular  system  of  form 
letters  and  follow-up  literature  can  be  used  to  some 
degree,  especially  on  prospects,  the  salesman  should 
not  get  into  the  lazy  habit  of  using  forms  entirely ;  par- 
ticularly with  his  customers,  he  should  try  to  make  the 
follow-up  as  personal  and  individual  as  his  time  will 
allow. 

While  most  of  the  letters  that  the  salesman  puts  into 
his  follow-up  must  be  written  by  him,  and  be  to  a  great 
extent  personal,  advertising  literature  of  one  kind  and 
another  will  play  a  large  part.  And  here  he  needs  the 
co-operation  of  the  house.  He  should  keep  very  closely 
in  touch  with  all  booklets,  catalogues,  and  other  adver- 
tising literature  that  the  home  office  is  getting  up,  and 
he  should  look  at  it  first  of  all  from  the  view-point  of 
the  possibility  of  its  fitting  into  his  follow-up.  When- 
ever he  believes  a  piece  of  literature  issued  by  the  house 
might  be  of  value  to  him  he  should  send  for  the  num- 
ber of  copies  he  needs. 

An  Example  of  a  Successful  Application  of  the  Fol- 
low-Up  in  Making  a  Sale 

Promptness  in  the  follow-up  is  always  essential,  and 
many  an  order  has  been  lost  through  delay  in  the  effort 
to  supplement  the  salesman's  work  by  this  means.  A1 
New  York  house  dealing  in  supplies  for  saddlery  manu- 


112    HOW  TO  KEEP  CUSTOMERS  IN  LINE 

facturera  directed  one  of  its  road  men  who  was  making 
his  route  in  Texas,  to  use  special  efforts  to  secure  the 
business  of  a  former  customer  in  Houston,  who  had  pre- 
viously taken  offense  at  some  past  unsatisfactory  hand- 
ling of  his  orders. 

The  salesman  was  tartly  rebuffed  on  his  first  call, 
but  he  did  ascertain  that  the  saddler  contemplated  plac- 
ing a  large  order  with  a  rival  house  in  two  weeks '  time. 
Although  success  seemed  hopeless  he  began  a  follow-up 
on  his  own  initiative.  He  repeated  his  call  the  second 
day  and  the  third  day  and  then  proceeded  on  his  route. 
The  next  day  he  mailed  the  saddler  a  new  catalogue, 
and  then  each  succeeding  day  from  the  small  towns  at 
which  he  stopped  he  wrote  him,  sent  him  a  special  price 
list,  wrote  him  again,  and  finally  at  the  end  of  a  week 
doubled  back  on  his  route  to  Houston  and  again  called 
on  him. 

This  time  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  noting  that  his 
persistence  had  produced  some  result,  but  the  saddler's 
prejudice  had  not  yet  been  entirely  overcome.  The  fol- 
low-up was  repeated  for  another  week,  when  the  sales- 
man again  doubled  back  to  Houston  and  obtained  the 
order.  If  the  follow-up  had  been  left  to  the  direction 
of  the  sales  manager  at  New  York,  no  matter  how  well 
executed  by  him,  it  could  not  have  been  prompt  enough 
to  have  secured  the  sale. 

The  salesman's  follow-up  should  bring  big  results, 
because  he  knows  his  fish  individually,  and  he  has  only 
to  select  the  right  bait  to  catch  them.  The  follow-up 
enables  him  to  present  argument  after  argument  to  his 
prospect,  and  to  keep  himself  before  his  attention  be- 
tween calls,  and  this  accumulated  process  and  varying 
theme  in  the  selling  argument  will  eventually  strike  the- 
responsive  chord  that  will  land  the  order. 


Part  VI 


HOW  TO  USE  THE  CO-OPER 
ATION  OF  THE  HOUSE 


LIST  OF 

MONTH  S  SALES 

CHANGES  AND  IM- 
PROVEMENTS IN 

FURNISHING 
SALESMAN 

PRODUCTS 
—    NEW  USES 

AMMUNITION 

NAMES  OF  NfcW   PROS- 
PECTS             FIRMS  ES 

TABLISHED  AND 
BURNED  OUT 

SAMPLES  OF  LITERAT- 
URE SENT   TO  CUS  - 

TOMERS  AND 
PROSPECTS 

NEW  SELLING  POINTS 

HOUSE  AND 

HOUSE  HELPS  TO 

AND  ARGUMENTS 

SALESMAN 

SALESMAN 

CO-OPERATION 

CONGRATULATIONS 

ON  WORK  DONE 

LETTERS 

CHANGES  AMONG 

REGARDING 

CUSTOMERS 

INQUIRIES  MADE 

DAILY  AND  WEEKLY 

SALES  REPORTS 

SALESMAN'S 

EXPENSE  REPORTS 

THE  HOUSE 

SPECIAL  REPORTS 

An  outline  of  the  methods  which  may  be  used  by  house  and  salesman  in 
co-operating  with  each  other  to  increase  sales 


Shoulder  to  Shoulder 

Share  the  burdens  of  the  men  on  the  fir- 
ing line. 

In  the  old  days,  when  war  was  the  busi- 
•ness  of  men,  the  leader's  authority  came 
from  more  than  the  power  to  direct . 

His  men  knew  that  wherever  the  fight 
was  thickest,  he  himself  would  do  battle 
with  his  strong  arm  and  keen  wit. 

And  the  same  principle  holds  good  today. 

The  leader  in  modern  battles  of  business 
who  gets  the  most  loyal  service  and  best 
results,  is  he  who  stands  ready  to  help  and 
work  with  his  men  as  well  as  direct  them . 

Drop  at  times  the  policy  of  simply  dicta- 
ting instructions  to  your  subordinates. 

Get  into  the  battle  with  them — shoulder 
to  shoulder. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Furnishing  the  Salesman  Ammunition 

BY  T.  CHANNING  MOORE 

District  Manager,  TJie  International  Time  Recording  Company 

It  has  come  to  be  an  accepted  principle  in  selling  that 
to  build  up  an  efficient  body  of  salesmen  necessitates 
keeping  them  in  touch  with  the  business,  giving  them 
up-to-date  information  regarding  its  progress—  in  fact, 
furnishing  them  sales  help  of  all  kinds. 

This  means  that  a  business  house  must  devise  a  system 
for  giving  to  salesmen  such  facts  concerning  business 
conditions,  the  progress  of  the  company  and  its  com- 
petitors, and  any  openings  for  sales  that  will  make  them 
more  intelligent  and  efficient  representatives. 

The  methods  here  described  are  such  as  have  been 
put  into  operation  by  concerns  of  this  character. 

'What  concerns  are  using  the  machines  you  recom- 
mend so  highly?"  is  usually  the  first  question  that  is 
put  to  the  salesman.  And  it  is  a  list  of  the  representa- 
tive concerns  using  the  machines  which  paves  the  way 
to  attention  and  puts  through  many  a  large  deal. 

The  list  of  concerns  that  are  using  a  machine  or  a  de- 
vice shows  plainly  to  the  prospective  purchaser  just 
what  standing  the  company  has,  and  what  the  article  in 
question  is  and  can  do.  The  company  which  has  a  good 

115 


116     HOW  TO  USE  HOUSE  CO-OPERATION 

list  of  this  kind,  a  list  containing  the  names  of  well 
known  and  acknowledgedly  well  conducted  business 
houses,  has  the  best  possible  argument  against  com- 
petitors. Even  though  a  competitor  has  sold  concerns 
just  as  big,  the  prospect  doesn't  know  it  and  he  is  at 
once  impressed  by  learning  of  the  people  who  are  using 
this  machine. 

List  of  Past  Purchasers  Powerful  Means  of 
Convincing  Prospects 

The  first  thing  for  a  concern  to  do,  therefore,  is  to 
compile  a  list  of  all  the  users  of  its  machine  according 
to  towns,  and  the  number  in  use  by  each  concern.  An- 
other list  should  be  prepared,  classified  according  to  line 
of  business,  and  notations  should  also  be  made  as  to  the 
particular  work  for  which  the  concern  is  using  the  ma- 
chine. On  each  of  these  lists  provision  should  be  made 
for  additions  from  the  monthly  list  sent  the  salesmen 
by  the  company. 

Very  valuable,  too,  is  a  monthly  list  of  sales  and  of 
acceptances  of  machines  on  trial,  giving  the  class  of 
business  the  concerns  are  engaged  in  and  the  work  for 
which  the  machines  are  to  be  used.  It  is  often  a  good 
argument  for  a  salesman  to  be  able  to  say:  "Only  day 
before  yesterday  Smith  &  Jones  accepted  three  of  our 
machines  after  they  had  been  on  trial  for  a  month.' 

Salesmen  should  also  be  kept  informed  of  the  facili- 
ties of  the  house  and  the  shipping  conditions — for  in- 
stance, when  it  becomes  impossible  to  fill  orders  for  any 
style  of  machine  or  for  any  part,  tell  the  salesman  this 
fact ;  if  the  manufacture  of  any  particular  style  or  part 
of  the  machine  is  discontinued,  the  salesmen  should  be 
notified.  When  they  are  allowed  to  go  on  taking  orders, 
delays  and  grievances  are  bound  to  result. 


FURNISHING  SALESMEN  AMMUNITION   117 

The  company  should  attempt  to  convey  to  its  repre- 
sentatives any  suggestion  or  arguments  which  will  aid 
them  in  making  sales.  The  short  statement  means  a 
great  deal;  such  information  would  include  everything 
from  a  new  method  of  approaching  a  prospect,  to  full 
lines  of  argument  based  on  the  new  needs  of  the  con- 
sumer, new  uses  to  which  it  has  been  found  the  machine 
can  be  put,  new  ideas  or  schemes  for  selling,  and  so  on. 

The  salesman  should  be  kept  informed  of  all  literature 
sent  out  by  the  company  to  its  customers  or  its  pros- 
pects. This  not  only  gives  him  all  the  new  selling  argu- 
ments which  have  been  devised?  the  new  applications  to 
which  the  machine  is  to  be  put,  the  up-to-date  wrinkles 
in  the  business  in  general,  but  it  will  also  show  him  how 
far  the  prospect  has  been  developed  and  enable  him  to 
conform  his  line  of  argument  to  this  material. 

If  there  is  any  educational  feature  in  the  sale — as  is 
the  case  in  almost  all  office  appliances,  for  instance — 
the  salesman  should  be  told  of  every  new  system  made 
up  and  every  new  form  and  blank  which  is  devised.  It 
may  be  just  exactly  what  he  is  looking  for,  what  he 
has  studied  out  for  himself.  Or,  while  he  may  not  be 
able  to  use  such  suggestions  now,  there  is  bound  to  come 
a  time  when  just  that  information  will  be  the  last  straw 
to  break  the  prospect's  objection. 

How  Salesmen  May  Collect  and  Send  in  Valuable 

Information 

But  the  company  should  not  be  expected  to  get  to- 
gether all  the  information  which  is  sent  out.  The  sales- 
men themselves  must  do  their  reciprocal  part.  In  order, 
however,  to  get  the  best  and  fullest  information  from 
the  salesmen  and  place  it  to  the  best  advantage  with 
their  fellows,  all  such  data  should  come  through  the 


118     HOW  TO  USE  HOUSE  CO-OPERATION 

home  office  for  distribution.  This  brings  up  the  second 
system  necessary  for  keeping  salesmen  informed. 

In  the  first  place,  what  kind  of  information  is  a  sales- 
man likely  to  gather  that  will  be  of  interest  to  other  men 
in  the  force  ?  In  actual  experience  it  will  be  found  that 
the  classes  of  information  are  almost  innumerable,  but 
most  of  the  facts  which  a  salesman  can  report  may  be 
included  under  these  classifications: 

Name  of  any  firm  giving  up  the  use  of  machines  and 
the  reasons  for  so  doing,  as  nearly  as  the  agent  can 
get  at  it. 

Concerns  taking  out  any  of  the  company's  machines 
and  substituting  those  of  a  competitor. 

Concerns  taking  out  competitors'  machines  and  put- 
ting in  the  company's. 

The  names  of  concerns  selling  the  company's  supplies. 

Advertising  matter  sent  out  by  a  competitor  which 
may  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  agent. 

Faults  in  the  construction  of  the  company's  machine 
and  of  the  competitor's  machine  as  found  by  users. 

Large  orders  placed  by  competitors  or  competitors' 
machines  taken  out. 

Any  news  items  which  the  agent  runs  across — for  in- 
stance, there  are  almost  every  day  in  the  papers  notices 
of  new  corporations.  Information  of  this  kind,  not 
applicable  to  the  territory  of  the  salesman  who  sees  the 
notice,  but  which  may  be  of  interest  to  salesmen  in 
other  fields,  should  be  clipped  and  sent  in. 

The  salesman  should  also  supply  suggestions  in  regard 
to  improving  machines  or  extending  their  use — the 
thousand  and  one  ideas  he  may  secure  in  constantly 
rubbing  up  against  the  customer. 

Still  another  class  of  information  may  be  grouped 
under  the  head  "Selling  Points":  any  new  arguments 


FURNISHING  SALESMEN  AMMUNITION   119 

which  the  salesmen  find  working  well — stories  of  how 
he  landed  hard  sales;  in  fact,  a  system  may  be  made 
whereby  agents  are  instructed  and  trained  to  report 
anything  that  in  any  way  relates  or  is  of  value  to  the 
company's  interest. 

When  this  reaches  the  office,  the  process  of  distribut- 
ing, classifying  and  sending  it  to  the  salesmen  whom 
it  will  most  interest,  begins. 

In  what  form  this  information  should  be  given  to  the 
salesman  is  a  matter  of  detail  which  each  house  should 
work  out  in  the  manner  most  adaptable  to  its  con- 
ditions. Some  houses  publish  this  material  in  the  form 
of  a  daily  paper  sent  to  all  its  men.  Others  use  a  weekly 
paper.  Many  houses  distribute  matter  at  odd  times  as. 
it  comes  in.  Some  sales  managers  put  this  data  in  the 
form  of  circular  letters  sent  to  their  salesmen  at  regu- 
lar intervals,  daily,  semi-weekly,  weekly,  or  monthly. 


The  Salesman  off  Duty 


scientific  salesman  is  industri- 
ous.  When  he  is  not  selling  he  is 
thinking.  He  constitutes  himself  a 
standing  committee  on  ways  and  means 
to  devise  new  plans  and  execute  new 
schemes  to  promote  his  business.  He 
keeps  in  close  touch  with  his  superior 
officers,  seeks  their  confidence  and  gives 
them  his,  and  establishes  a  closer  bond 
of  friendship  between  his  customers  and 
the  house  he  represents. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
Helping  the  Salesman  Hold  Customers 

BY  GEORGE  B.  SPENCER 

A  man  traveling  the  Mississippi  Valley  in  the  interest 
of  a  large  manufactory  in  Ohio,  was  given  six  weeks' 
vacation  for  a  pleasure  trip  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  Re- 
turning, he  began  at  St.  Louis  to  cover  his  territory. 

When  he  arrived  at  the  Planters'  Hotel,  the  mail  clerk 
handed  him  a  package  of  letters  nearly  a  foot  thick  and 
tied  with  cord,  saying,  "We  have  been  expecting  you. 
All  these  have  come  from  your  concern  during  the  past 
six  weeks  and  they  are  marked,  'To  arrive.' 

It  took  the  man  nearly  a  whole  day  to  read  what  the 
bunch  contained.  He  learned  from  it  that  there  had 
been  changes  in  prices  of  various  of  his  goods — that 
some  of  the  lines  had  been  enlarged — others  had  been 
dropped — and  yet  other  and  new  ones  had  been  added. 
He  learned  that  Brown  &  Jones  had  consolidated  with 
Smith  &  Robinson,  and  that  his  old  friend,  the  buyer  at 
Black's,  would  place  orders  for  the  new  concern.  He 
learned  that  White  &  Co.  had  had  a  fire — that  Green 
Bros,  had  made  an  assignment — that  Brown  &  Brown 
had  increased  their  capital. 

He  found  that  he  might  expect  samples  of  a  new  line 
at  Louisville — that  his  usual  stopping  place  IB  Cincin- 

190 


HELPING  HOLD  CUSTOMERS  121 

nati  had  been  burned — that  Urban  had  moved  his  store 
to  a  new  location  in  Columbus.  He  discovered  that  a 
new  man  had  been  made  manager  of  his  concern's  Chi- 
cago branch — that  the  treasurer  of  his  company  would 
be  in  Indianapolis  the  same  time  he  was  there,  and  would 
expect  him  to  furnish  an  introduction  to  Vest  &  Co. — 
that  West  &  West  had  had  trouble  with  strikes  and  were 
just  getting  on  their  feet  again. 

Then  there  were  copies  of  quotations  made  during  his 
absence  to  different  customers  he  must  visit — memor- 
anda of  orders  sent  in  to  his  credit — and  a  lot  of  new 
catalogues  of  competing  manufacturers.  There  was  also 
a  long  personal  letter  from  the  manager,  saying  how 
he  had  been  missed,  hoping  his  vacation  had  been  pleas- 
ant and  beneficial,  and  how  gratified  the  department 
would  be  to  have  "a  good  wheel  horse "  in  harness  again. 

The  man  started  work  feeling  good,  thoroughly  posted, 
and  knowing  that  the  same  old  finger  was  on  the  key 
at  the  other  end  of  the  wire.  He  made  a  splendid  trip. 

Upon  arriving  in  a  town,  a  salesman  of  this  concern 
also  finds  awaiting  him  from  the  house  congratulatory 
letters  upon  orders  secured  at  his  last  stopping  place; 
criticisms,  suggestions,  encouraging  sympathy  and  full 
information  concerning  people  he  must  see  in  this  par- 
ticular place.  If  anything  of  particular  moment  has 
happened  since  his  last  visit,  or  quotations  have  been 
made  to  any  customer,  all  these  are  placed  before  him, 
and  he  starts  upon  his  rounds,  fully  equipped  with  every 
possible  bit  of  knowledge  which  may  aid  his  work.  If 
any  customer  has  failed,  he  is  advised,  so  that  none  of 
his  time  will  be  wasted ;  if  a  new  concern  has  started  up, 
he  is  given  as  complete  data  as  possible  concerning  it. 
If  inquiries  have  reached  the  house  through  advertising, 
or  other  mediums,  which  may  be  turned  into  business 


122     HOW  TO  USE  HOUSE  CO-OPERATION 

by  a  personal  representative,  all  the  facts  are  placed  in 
his  possession. 

By  this  close  co-operation,  a  salesman  is  not  omy  en- 
abled to  make  his  work  effective  in  least  time  and  at 
lowest  cost,  but  he  is  inspired  with  confidence  in  the 
interest  of  his  house  in  his  personal  success,  and  this 
engenders  enthusiasm  which  could  be  cultivated  in  no 
other  way. 

Eight  Kind  of  House  Co-operation  Inspires 
Confidence  in  Salesmen 

Presumably  less  than  a  sixth  of  the  entire  time  of  any 
traveling  salesman  is  spent  at  headquarters.  He  is 
usually  a  sensitive,  impressionable,  enthusable  sort  of 
fellow,  for  that  is  the  sort  to  make  the  best  salesmen. 
He  is  more  or  less  easily  affected  by  conditions.  It 
doesn't  take  much  to  depress  him.  Should  he  be  hav- 
ing a  hard  trip,  injudicious  criticism  might  drive  him 
to  resign. 

But — let  criticism  come  in  the  form  of  suggestions  for 
more  effective  work,  and  accompanied  by  useful  data 
and  encouraging  approval  of  the  things  he  has  done 
well,  relations  are  soon  established  between  himself  and 
employer  upon  a  basis  which  no  amount  of  adversity 
could  suffice  to  disturb.  He  will  be  loyal,  faithful, 
painstaking — the  very  best  kind  of  "a  hustler,'  and 
one  whom  no  amount  of  persuasion  could  induce  to  leave 
the  employ  of  his  house.  He  will  always  say  'we'1 
when  he  mentions  the  concern  and  that's  the  sort  of 
salesman  every  up-to-date  and  wide-awake  sales  man- 
ager is  looking  for  all  the  time.  If  he  gets  an  offer 
from  a  rival  concern,  "my  boss'1  will  be  the  first  man 
he'll  tell  about  it,  and  whose  advice  he'll  ask  and  think 
more  of  than  any  other. 


>"tr>:-v- '.  -      f-r  ]i«f'  *?••.  c, 


CHAPTER  XIX 

Posting  the  House  on  Trade  Conditions 

BY  CHARLES  E.  CAKE 

Of  the  Office  Appliance  Company 

The  traveling  salesman  is  a  variable  quantity.  To  se- 
cure the  best  results  from  his  trips,  to  reduce  expenses 
to  a  minimum,  and  to  figure  accurately  profit  and  loss, 
is  one  of  the  first  duties — difficult  and  of  considerable 
detail — of  the  sales  manager. 

The  chief  principle  is  to  make  effort  and  expense  co- 
productive — that  is,  let  every  dollar  spent  and  every 
effort  made  yield  together.  And  it  can  only  be  done  by 
the  closest  union  between  house  and  traveler. 

This  union  can  be  accomplished  by  the  most  careful 
attention  to  detail — the  reporting  to  the  house  of  every 
step  the  salesman  takes. 

His  first  step  is  the  leaving  of  his  route  list  (Form  I) 
with  the  sales  manager  before  he  takes  his  trip,  giving 
the  name  of  the  salesman,  the  towns,  and  the  hotel  in  the 
towns  at  which  he  will  stop  and  the  dates — all  telling  just 
where  and  when  he  may  be  found.  This  is  usually  for 
one  week  ahead;  the  route  list  cards  for  the  succeeding 
weeks  are  sent  to  the  house  from  time  to  time. 

As  the  salesman  finishes  each  day  he  forwards  to  the 
house  his  daily  report  (Form  II)  giving  first,  general  in- 

123 


124     HOW  TO  USE  HOUSE  CO-OPERATION 


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REPORTING  TRADE  CONDITIONS        127 

formation  regarding  the  towns ;  the  population,  the  con- 
ditions of  the  town  or  surrounding  country — such  as  the 
conditions  of  the  crops  or  of  the  general  business  situa- 
tion— at  the  top  of  the  report.  Next  follows  the  names 
of  the  firms  called  on,  the  business  of  each,  whether  he 
is  a  customer  or  not,  "  if  he  sold, ' '  if  not  sold,  the  reason ; 
and  a  space  on  the  end  for  remarks  on  each  firm.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  report  is  a  space  for  * l  firms  in  our  line  not 
called  on,  why  not  called  on. ' '  By  this  report  the  sales- 
man is  compelled  to  visit  every  firm  in  his  line  in  the 
town — the  chance  of  "  stuffing "  the  report  is  thus  almost 
wholly  eliminated. 

When  the  salesman  finds  a  dealer  not  a  customer  who 
he  thinks  ought  to  be  worked  on,  or  when  he  receives 
instructions  to  look  up  some  merchant  thoroughly,  he 
makes  out  a  "Special  Report"  (Form  III),  a  thorough 
and  detailed  lot  of  information  on  the  man,  giving  facts 
of  value  to  both  the  sales  and  the  credit  departments. 
On  the  reverse  side  of  this  card  (Form  IV),  the  sales- 
man indicates  what  dealings  he  has  had  with  the  pros- 
pect. 

At  the  bottom  of  the  reverse  side  is  a  space  used  by 
the  home  office  for  the  sales  "follow  up,'  indicating 
when  written  and  when  sold.  This  serves  to  give  a 
complete  line  on  every  good  prospect;  by  it  the  house 
has  full  information  at  a  moment's  notice  without  hav- 
ing to  ask  for  "  report "  on  the  firm,  and  can  follow 
the  firm  up  with  the  same  convenience.  The  special 
report  is  filed  alphabetically  in  the  prospect  file  until 
the  dealer  is  made  a  customer.  Then  it  goes  in  a  cus- 
tomer's file. 

At  the  end  of  each  week  the  salesman  renders  his 
expense  account  (Form  V)  by  item.  After  the  date 
and  town,  the  general  items  of  expense  under  "hotel"  is 


128     HOW  TO  USE  HOUSE  CO-OPERATION 

given,  which  includes  the  bed,  breakfast,  dinner  and 
supper ;  the  next  general  item  of  expense,  under  ' '  trans- 
portation/' gives  the  number  of  miles  traveled,  whether 
"interchangeable"  or  cash,  livery,  or  'bus;  there  follows 
a  column  for  miscellaneous  expense,  and  explanation. 
At  the  bottom  of  the  card  is  given  the  "total  hotel" 
expense  and  the  "total  cash  paid.' 

This  is  merely  the  original  data;  to  be  of  advantage 
to  the  sales  department  it  must  be  put  in  condensed 
and  classified  form. 

In  the  first  place  the  sales  manager  wants  to  know 
what  a  man's  total  sales  were  and  what  his  total  expenses 
were  for  a  month,  in  order  that  they  may  judge  of  the 
profitableness  of  the  man.  Each  salesman  is  given  a 
monthly  card,  on  the  face  of  which  (Form  VI)  is  en- 
tered the  month's  record  of  the  salesman's  expenses, 
week  by  week,  of  the  money  he  has  received  from  the 
firm,  and  the  balance  he  has  on  hand.  On  the  reverse 
side  (Form  VII)  the  month's  sales,  week  by  week,  are 
entered,  and  then  the  percentage  of  expense  and  sales  is 
figured  out.  These  cards,  properly  filled  out,  are  handed 
to  the  sales  manager  at  the  end  of  every  month,  and  he 
can  see  exactly  the  work  and  the  value  of  each  of  his 
galesmen. 


The  Men  Who  Know 

SCIENTIFIC  training  is  the  only 
^-  sure  means  of  increasing  efficiency. 
The  strongest  sales  managers  have  al- 
ways been  those  who  could  tell  the 
"how"  and  the  "whv"  of  salesmanship. 


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